


Once Upon a Ring

by Aaron_ledgers



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Online
Genre: Betrayal, F/F, F/M, Horror, Multi, Other, Psychic Bond, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-21 06:39:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4818932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaron_ledgers/pseuds/Aaron_ledgers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><strong></strong><br/><em>"Dear Cinderella: if a dream is a wish your heart makes, and a dream that you wish will come true... does being dragged kicking and screaming through a one-way portal to another world, AGAINST my WILL, mean I have a genuinely fucked up heart?"</em><br/><br/>Meet Katie Sanders: an extremely antisocial teen with a bizarre talent.</p><p>In our world, everything is supposed to be normal: that is the way things have been since the beginning of our eighteenth century. However, every once in a while, having a gift that stands out is all right. Unless it's something strange, like predicting the future... and that is precisely why Katie is an outcast. Oh, but wait: there's more! On top of dealing with high school bullies, her brother's vicious attitude problem, and her foster mother's alcohol-induced rages, she's been having an ongoing streak of recurring nightmares for about three months now about a great, big, burning... EYE. Well, that's all dandy and grand, but normal people shouldn't have to worry, right? </p><p>You'd think so, but sadly, Kate isn't normal. </p><p>Low and behold, just like every OTHER Cinderella story in existence, her dreams really DO come true... but NOT in a good way!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CherryJacks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryJacks/gifts), [Matsumatsu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matsumatsu/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to the above people, for being my first genuine viewers. I hope you all enjoy. (If this genre is your thing, lmao)

**Disclaimer and Author's note:** I don't own J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I also hate seeing author notes in the middle of a story. I feel it ruins the the zen your writing has created. However, THIS is a special story. No notes, no mood crushers, just special links to special places, and the BEST PART is that the links themselves are part of the story dialogue! So, keep an eye out for underlined text in later chapters, because THOSE are the hyperlinks! Click them when you see them to get a badass immersion effect. Click the title below for an example! Anyway, this is going to be a very, very long story, so kick back and relax. Also, as a side note, the story will switch to Middle Earth around chapter nine or ten.

[THE FELLOWSHIP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25whflwHu6o)  
   
**Dedicated to Katherine and Nathaniel Sanders**

**PART ONE: MODERN EARTH**

_"Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life._  
_And thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine."_  
**—Thomas Jefferson—**

* * *

**Prologue: Just One Step**

A gentle autumn breeze was sliding down the deserted streets of New York City.

The sun was beginning to rise, and the sky had been illuminated with the colors of a beautiful new dawn.

However, despite the early hour, no cars were driving along the concrete roads and almost nobody was walking along the sidewalks. In fact, only one visible person was standing under the morning glow that glimmered on the horizon. The girl in question was only four feet and nine inches tall, her hair was whiter than snow, and her skin was extremely pale.

At the moment, her eyes were closed tightly: nothing aside from the silver lashes framing those gems could be seen as she stood there on top of the railing. Her arms were spread like an eagle, and her thigh-length hair was drifting in the wind: aside from her tresses and skirt, she was still as a statue. She remained that way for an unmeasurable amount of time... barely even seeming to be breathing.

But then... the sun finally slid over the horizon, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Two large, empty, iridescent irises refracted the light like twin mirrors, twinkling with subtle hues of amethyst, crystal blue, and baby pink. In front of her was a gorgeous view... the buildings below her gleamed and sparkled, and not far beyond was the ocean, which glittered like diamonds. However, instead of looking at this sunrise with a smile, her pale face was emotionless.

In that moment, silence reigned free, punctuated only by a heartbeat.

Her own heartbeat.

Above her was the sky, with the glorious colors of a magnificent dawn.

In front of her was a view that even a queen could love.

But below her lay nearly fifty stories worth of empty air.

One more step... just one more step and this would be the last sunrise she'd ever lay eyes on. She slowly tilted her head back and stared at the beautiful sky with a frightening amount of emptiness in her eyes, feeling no admiration for the magnificence she was beholding.

The vast plane above her brought nothing but loneliness.

She was hollow.

It only made her realize how small her existence really was.

Even a morning like this could no longer bring her joy, and that's why the moment had come: she could escape... she could be free of everything with just one more step.

Just one step... it wasn't so hard, right?

She could be free of the pain... the fear... the loneliness... everything she hated so badly.

Everything she wanted but could never truly have.

The girl closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, planning on lifting her right foot... but her leg wouldn't budge: it was shaking so violently that she couldn't even budge it from the railing. A gentle wind blew through her silvery hair when she finally lowered her arms and looked down at the distant road: the breeze helped to cool her stinging cheeks and eyes, but it was doing nothing to quell the burning sensation in her heart.

She couldn't even kill herself. She couldn't escape.

There was no way out.

"Just one step," she finally whispered, shivering all over as she stared at the spinning ground below with blank eyes. "That's all I need. One step... just one."

However, before she could continue thinking about it, the sound of a door opening behind her filled the air and she froze like a statue once again.

"Wha?! What the hell?" someone snorted, sounding more than a little startled. "No way... your hair is... it's white! It's totally white!"

The girl blinked and slowly turned her head to look at the idiot who'd spoken: she blinked again in confusion when she beheld a clean-cut man who looked to be in his late twenties. He was staring at her with raised eyebrows, and he was rubbing the stubble on his chin: his short black hair and steel grey eyes made him seem very plain.

"Obviously," she stated in a startlingly emotionless voice, giving him a vacant stare; she seemed to be looking through him rather than at him. "Albinism does that to people."

The man twitched after he glanced down, because it was only then that he realized where, exactly, she was standing: his face immediately drained of color.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?" he calmly demanded, slowly taking a step forward and lifting his hands. "Seriously, come down from there! It's dangerous!"

"Yes, it is," Kate stated almost wistfully, giving the guy an empty smile and turning away to face the sunrise. "So much that it would definitely be fatal. Funny, isn't it?"

"What are you saying?! H-hey, come on! Come down from there, right now!" the man roughly demanded; regardless, he looked severely shaken up. "I don't know what's going on with you, but suicide definitely isn't the answer. If you want to talk, come down and I'll take you out to eat or something, okay? Just, come down!"

Katherine's eyes were hidden by her hair by that point.

Then, she dropped her arms, letting them hang limply.

"Shut up," she finally muttered, slowly twisting her legs and sliding off of the skyscraper's thin railing; the business man stared at her with startled grey eyes and watched as she picked up her school bag, because not long after she started walking for the door he'd just come through. "You don't need to worry so much: I've been standing in that same spot for three hours and I couldn't move my legs enough to jump. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to, so stay out of it."

Without bothering to wait for a response, the girl unhappily swept past him, not even realizing that his enormous eyes had locked onto her gleaming hair.

"Wait," he commanded sharply, making the girl halt for a moment. "What's your name, kid? And how old are you?"

"You're not entitled to know anything about me," the white child stated emptily, slowly turning her head and smiling at him over her shoulder; his eyes widened when he finally saw the nasty bruise on her cheek. "Nor do I owe you an explanation about my age. Just ignore me like everyone else does and forget you ever saw me here."

"Not until you tell me your name," he calmly retorted, slowly walking over to her and gently setting a hand on her shoulder. "Please, just answer the question, Miss... it might make things easier if you talk about what's going on with you."

Her amethyst eyes narrowed a little and she averted her gaze to the floor.

But then, she had a vision of the man in front of her.

_Her eyes widened when she saw him sitting in a blue minivan at a stoplight._

_He was looking at something on his phone, so when the light turned and he pulled out into the busy street, he didn't see the bus going faster than the city speed limit allowed._

Kate closed her eyes and tried to ignore the obscure images of the the two vehicles colliding, but just before the visions faded, her mind's eye caught sight of two street signs.

 _The crossing of Fifth Avenue and Broadway,_ she silently droned, letting out a mental sigh. _Not surprising considering how busy those streets are._

"I'll tell you something even better than my name," she stated in a low voice, not meeting the man's gaze; he could see a grim smile forming on her lips. "Take my advice: stay the hell away from the crossing of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. If you don't, you'll regret it. If you _can't_ avoid that area, avoid playing with your phone while you're driving your minivan. I have to get to school, now... bye."

With that, she lifted her hand and tossed her cloud-white hair before continuing on towards the elevator. 

After a moment of calming her racing heart, she pressed the button and clasped her school bag with both hands. When she stepped in and turned around, however, she noticed that the man was staring at her with a weird expression and winced internally. He was staring at her as though she were some sort of psychopath. Unfortunately, just as the elevators started closing, the man abruptly lunged forward.

The girl jumped when he stuck his arm through the gap.

"What's your name?" he demanded, giving her a very odd expression indeed. "Before you go, that's all I want to know: first and last."

"Could you let me leave, please?" the girl droned, giving him a cold expression. "I'm gonna be late."

"Not until you tell me your first and last name," he stated seriously, giving her a firm expression. "Tell me."

"You're not gonna let this go, are you?" the girl angrily demanded, giving him an empty expression. "You're really gonna hound me?"

"Until you tell me your name," the man slyly retorted, narrowing his eyes, "or better yet, how you know what kind of vehicle I drive."

The white-haired girl glared at him for a long moment, amethyst eyes sharpening in an intimidating manner.

"Katie Sanders," she stated in a monotone, averting her eyes. "My name is Katherine Ashley Sanders. Now, please let me go before I call the police."

For a long moment... the man did nothing; but then, without a word, he withdrew his arm and the elevator doors started sliding shut again.

However, when a sudden jolt of uneasiness seared through het gut, she glanced up just before they fully closed: there was an extremely weird smile on the man's face. He looked half intrigued, half disbelieving, but there was also a gleam of curiosity in his steel grey eyes.

Then he was gone and she was alone with her uneasiness.

The ride down to the ground floor was mostly silent... punctuated only by the tacky music that came along with riding in a New York elevator. Not long after that, though, she left the fancy hotel and began the three-mile walk to the one place she hated more than her current living residence.

School.

By the time she arrived, Katie Sanders had wiped all traces of emotion off her face.

Bracing herself behind a wall of isolation, she hefted her backpack and headed through the rusted gates of her 'government sponsored' high school. It was reputed as a private academy, but all of the locals knew it was actually a place for juvenile delinquents and orphans: the success rate for Ivy Ridge was so low that even the worst of the homeless would cringe.

Katie had arrived a little earlier than usual, so she figured she'd have enough time to rest in the library before her first class started. Mostly because she couldn't deal with the bullying so early on... at least, not on this particular day: on top of being an emotional wreck, she was extremely tired since she'd been having vivid, recurring nightmares for the past three months. Her social worker had told her the bad dreams would pass nearly two weeks ago when she'd brought it up, but he'd been wrong: they were getting worse. 

When she walked into the library, however, her irritation dissolved.

This spacious room was almost always empty since the majority of the students in her school liked to slack off and do nothing with their lives. That's why it had become her sanctuary... and one of the only two people who Katie actually cared about was sitting in it all the time, feeling just as lonely as she was. The librarian never had any visitors, so she was always grinning whenever Katherine showed up. Being smiled at had been nothing more than a fantasy until she'd started attending Ivy Ridge, so for all it's faults, this little bit of joy kind of made up for everything.

"Hello, Miss McKinley," Katie stated softly, catching the attention of the old woman who was dozing off in front of the desk. "Sorry for startling you... I'm here a little earlier today."

"Katherine?" the woman gently asked, grandmotherly brown eyes blooming with warmth. "Well, now, I didn't expect to see you so early. School hasn't even started yet... but then again, I guess that could work to my favor, hmmm? Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?"

"R-really?" Kate peeped, feeling as though the melancholy ache in her heart were already washing away. "Yes, please... thank you, Miss McKinley."

"Oh, goody! Now, now, don't you worry about it," the woman chuckled, stamping a returned book and watching as the slender albino smoothed her black school skirt; then she got up and walked over to the coffee pot. "I can see you've got another bruise on your cheek... forgive me for prying, but have you been eating properly, Katie? That awful wretch had better be feeding you and Nathan... oh, and that reminds me! How is your brother doing? I haven't seen him around lately."

"I'm... eating..." Katie reluctantly admitted, widely skirting the topic; it wasn't exactly a lie, since she was always eating in the cafeteria, but home was another story entirely. "And... Nathan is like he usually is: distant."

"Oh... well, don't worry, darling: he'll come around soon, I'm sure," the librarian sighed, clucking her tongue as she waited for the water to boil. "You know, boys his age are difficult to understand. I used to have the same problems with my own son when he was your age: one day, he clamped up like a turtle and stopped talking to me. I think Nate probably just has a crush on someone."

"It's a thought, but I doubt it..." Katie mumbled, pulling on a strand of her hair before she sat down with the woman behind the desk. "I already told you about why he acts the way he does. I doubt he'll ever like anybody with the issues he has concerning trust... and since everyone thinks I'm a witch, a lot of people have been keeping their distance from him, too."

Shockingly enough, this was the sad truth: everyone at school, even some of the teachers, believed that Katie was a real life witch due to some exceedingly bizarre occurrences when she'd somehow managed to predict the future. Her strange looks had never really helped matters, but still... that's what everyone currently believed. Her current reputation had stemmed from an event that had taken place little over a month ago: her final class had just let out, she'd already gotten her things, and she'd been on her way out the door.

But then, she'd brushed arms with her principle, who'd been on his way inside.

Inexplicably, she'd had a vision of him being killed by a potted plant and had whirled around, roughly grabbing his arm.

Considering the type of school she attended, she shouldn't have been surprised that he'd assumed she'd been trying to attack him.

After he'd slammed Kate down on her back and started restraining her, the pot had fallen from the window above and shattered on the concrete.

The man had instantly stopped what he was doing to take a look at it... and after looking above, his face had gone slack.

For the next two weeks, he'd repeatedly called her into his office trying to get the truth out of her. Unknown to Kate, however, or even the principle himself... the gossip about his actions had spread throughout the whole school, and every time he'd called her in, there had been people listening to his one-sided conversation outside the office. Things had been relatively okay until she'd finally caved under his coaxing and admitted that she sometimes had visions and strange feelings about bad things happening to the people around her.

She'd told him that she didn't know how or why it happened, but it was usually better to avoid ignoring the feelings.

She'd then proceeded to explain that the event with the potted plant was a perfect example and curtly closed her mouth again, hoping he was finished. Because that was the truth: Katie was a very perceptive girl, in more ways that one, and sometimes she would have dreams that somehow came true later on. Granted, it didn't always happen, and most of the time she didn't even remember her dreams unless the events they'd represented started taking place in reality. More often than the dreams, though, she would sometimes just... _know_ things... and randomly gain knowledge about certain events before they actually took place. 

During that conversation, she could see it in the man's eyes that he hadn't believed her, but it _had_ taken two and a half weeks just to get a semi-normal response out of her, so he'd accepted it without further question. Unfortunately, the moment she'd let that secret slip, her response to the principle had spread throughout the school. And since she had never really been liked by the people around her, it hadn't taken long for the teasing to start. Eventually, it had devolved further: going from teasing, to bullying, to being treated like an outcast by her classmates.

Truthfully, it pissed her off: she'd been reluctant to confess her secret in the first place because of how much she hated it.

Having dreams that could come true at any time was terrifying to think about, because for her, a nightmare might not be a nightmare later on.

But nobody understood her point of view enough to bother thinking about things like that.

In their eyes, she was just a new toy to play with: an item of the school who needed to be taken down a few pegs.

The only part of this situation that she was grateful for was the fact that her brother had no issues with dreams coming true. He didn't even have premonitions like she did, so at the very least... he had mostly been safe from the harassment everyone at school had been giving her. However, even though the two of them were twins, they weren't exactly the closest siblings in the world. Quite the contrary, despite her emotionless facade, Katie actually loved her brother so much that sometimes it was almost too painful to keep going.

And today, she had almost stopped altogether because of him.

After all, he was the main reason why she'd been up on that railing.

"' _God, you should just disappear already_ ,'" Katherine murmured, staring at the floor with hollow eyes. " _'I really hope something bad happens to you today.'_ "

"Eh? What was that?" the librarian asked, looking up at her with those grandmotherly brown eyes. "Did you say something, honey?"

"No," Kate called, shaking her head. "Nothing..."

Nothing.

That word embodied everything she was to her brother.

To anybody, really: her home life was just as fucked up as her school life, so she knew as much from personal experience. 

Truthfully, Nathan had never stepped in when their foster mother had started hitting her, nor had he done so when she'd been abused by their previous foster families. At school, after her secret had been exposed, he'd sided with the students who'd started tormenting her in school, and laughed with the kids who'd made her cry. He didn't care about her even a little bit, but the worst part was the fact that Katie couldn't even blame him for it. After all, she was responsible for a horrifying accident that had occurred _because_  she'd had one of her premonitions.

Her vision of it beforehand is what had led to everything leading up to the end result, and it was all because she'd tried to prevent it from happening.

Katie and her brother both truly believed that she'd caused it to happen.

After a moment of staring at the ground, Katie let go of her hair and pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Mrs. McKinley sighed, looking at her. "You seem a little more down than usual."

Kate was pensive. She didn't really want to respond.

"It's just... hard..." she admitted, shaking her head before bending over and straightening her knee-high stockings. "I was already singled out now and then because I look so _different_ with my albinism, but now I'm treated like a virus that nobody wants to catch. I didn't really think it would bother me all that much when it first started, but things have changed. Some of the creeps from my class, like Alan Hastings and his two friends, Salem and Mitchel... they get physical with the bullying. And since the regular teasing never ends, I'm actually starting to hate coming to school." 

The woman sighed.

"People fear what they don't understand, and what they don't understand is usually different from them," the librarian sighed, setting a mug of hot chocolate in front of her. "That's why they lash out at you, Sweetie: don't let it get to you. And if Alan or either of those boys he hangs out with hurts you, tell me, okay? I won't hesitate to take it up with the principle!"

"I'll tell you if something happens, like always," Katie murmured, closing her eyes and tiredly sipping her cocoa, "but letting other people handle my problems just makes the antagonism worse."

"Well, if that's the case, try your hardest to resist them, then: you're strong enough to handle things!" the woman murmured, then brightened up. "By the way, I have something that may cheer you up!"

"Really?" Katie asked, looking up at the woman with somber violet eyes. "What is it?'"

"Lady and gentle-girl, feast your eyes on this: ta-daaaa!" the elderly woman laughed, holding up a weathered book with a proud wink; Katie's mouth slowly fell open in shock and she stared at it blankly, not even believing her eyes. "It took me a very long time to save up enough money to buy this! It's one of the original copies, too... it's a rarity! And since you're technically the only person on the hold list, I can renew it for as long as you want! No restrictions, no complications, it's yours! Just give your friend my regards, okay?"

Katie's eyes very nearly started watering when she took the book from the librarian and touched the cover with shaking fingers.

"How in the world did you find this thing?!" she whispered, slowly looking up at Miss McKinley in sheer awe. "There are only ten thousand copies in existence! So, how?!"

"Trust me, it wasn't easy," the woman sighed, frowning a little as she thought about it. "I found it only by chance, honestly: I was shopping in Guam during last week's vacation when I spotted the title in a rundown bookstore. They wanted six hundred dollars for that book! I had to work for a little while during my vacation to completely afford it, but in the end, it's here and you're happy. Right?"

Katie didn't respond.

Lately, she had been having extremely sinister nightmares concerning giant birds of all varieties, disembodied voices, blood, and lots of fire.  She had been thoroughly disturbed since the dreams were recurring, especially since she'd once read something extremely frightening in a book on psychic phenomena: it was the criteria for telling the difference between regular nightmares and dreams that were actually premonitions. However, when Kate had finally opened up and discreetly spoke to the old librarian about a 'friend' who was having 'similar' nightmares, the albino had been startled to learn that the woman thought her visions actually sounded familiar. The result of that conversation had led to the discovery of a rare book with only ten thousand copies on the market.

However, the fact that her nightmares had led to the discovery of this book had seriously frightened her.

She hadn't wanted to think they were real.

"Oh, dear..." Katie whispered, heart dropping through the floor when she flipped the book open to the first page; an evil-looking monster with black wings had been sketched into it. "U-u-um... thank you, Miss McKinley... my... friend will be happy now that we can find out what her dreams mean."

"Oh, you... don't you worry about a thing, little dear," the woman sighed, giving her a grandmotherly grin before she glanced at the clock. "Oh, my! Is it really almost six thirty already?! You should hurry up and get to your first class, otherwise you'll end up being tardy!"

"I can't," the pale girl mumbled, lowering her eyes in dismay. "Alan and his cronies have no qualms about skipping classes, so I'm kind of stuck here. They know I always head for the library each morning, remember? I had to go through the back window last time since they wouldn't go away."

"Oh, is that all? Maybe I can help you," the librarian chuckled, heading over to her desk and opening the top drawer; when she pulled out a tiny key and held it out to Katie, the silver-haired teen frowned and took it with gentle hands. "See? It's good being a teacher's pet now and then!"

"What's this?" Katie hesitantly asked, blinking at the key with a worried expression. "I mean... what does it go to? The window?"

"No, silly, it's the key to the back door," the elderly woman replied, pointing to the door resting at the very back of the library. "It lets out near the drama rooms, and the hallway will take you right to the cafeteria. I'm sure you'll be able to find your way from there, right?"

"Yes... I often go down to the drama rooms to read after school gets out," Katie admitted, stuffing the book into her backpack. "Are you sure you don't mind doing this for me, though? I mean, couldn't you get in trouble for loaning me one of the faculty keys?"

"Oh, pish posh! You'd never tattle on me," the old woman giggled, waving a dainty hand. "Get going, kiddo… don't be late for class."

"Okay... thanks again," Katie sighed, giving the woman a rare smile before she jogged towards the door. However, just before she got there, a terrible ache assaulted her and her feet slowed. After a moment, she turned around and clenched her fists. "Um, hey... I... this morning... I..."

"Yes?" Mrs. McKinley asked, blinking at her with a grandmotherly smile. "What is it?"

The girl stood there for a long moment, trying to figure out what she wanted to say in order to make the tightness in her heart go away. Katie opened her mouth, as if she were going to speak, but then she closed it again and lowered her eyes: not long after, her irises became somewhat lifeless and they lost their sheen once again. Shaking her head, she turned away from the confused librarian and unlocked the rear door; the girl blinked when it opened and pocketed the key before giving the librarian a long look.

The woman frowned with worry when the albino stared at her for several moments of silence.

Trying to convey a message that would most likely never get through.

Then she slipped out into the drama corridor, hefting her bag as she prepared to face the worst.

It wasn't because of her situation, though... it was because, she was still holding onto the last shreds of her optimism.

Even if it _was_ a little morbid. 

Her motto was simple: if you only expect the worst, you can only be pleasantly surprised. 

Perhaps it was morbid because she was always alone... or maybe it was because she no longer looked at the world with bright eyes.

That was the most likely reason: her eyes were always empty with no sheen or life, and were rather cold for someone her age. Still, it was with good reason: it had been ingrained in her heart and her head a long time ago that if you feel, you will break... but if you  _don't_ feel, nothing can hurt you. But because her treacherous heart wasn't made of stone, hurt was all she understood, no matter how much she wanted to avoid it.

And that's why... on days when she didn't go to her private high school, she simply threw on some old clothes and headed out into the woods behind her house to be alone. She had a garden back there, a place she had been tending to ever since she'd been thrust into her latest household. Katie had been taking care of the flowers back there for so long now that she had pretty much become part of the scenery after school. Her garden life was peaceful and gentle... soothing, in a way. It was so different from her normal, everyday life that she would have preferred being homeless.

If only so she could live in her garden forever.

Because, when Katie was tending to her secret garden, there was no pain... there was no sadness or anxiety... there was no guilt.

There was no need to pretend that she was normal.

Because, if she was going to be honest with herself... Katherine Ashley Sanders was not a normal girl.

At all.


	2. Chapter 2

  **Chapter One: Just a Normal Day**

_The first thing she noticed was the darkness._

_It was pitch black but smelled damp and musty… almost like the air of an old cellar._ _It seemed oddly familiar to her, even though she couldn't recall ever being in such a place._ _The mustiness of this void was also accompanied by a faint metallic scent that burned her nose… copper…? Or was it blood? The sound of water droplets falling into a puddle echoed from somewhere deep within the cold shadows, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. Upon sitting up, she felt something soft slide over her bare shoulders and paused… she knew what it was..._ _it was hair._

_Yes, it was definitely her hair: she could remember that much._

_Her hair was white, and extremely long according to her brother._

_Wait... brother?_

_Who was her brother?_

_Better yet, where on earth was she?_

_"Where am I…?" Kate whispered, touching her forehead in groggy confusion. "How did I get here?"_

_After feeling around in the dark, her small hands were met with the sensation of slick, wet bricks sliding across her fingertips: she couldn't remember anything, but she knew that this must have been part of the walls surrounding her. Slowly getting up from the cold stone floor, the girl felt around and tried to create an image in her head like a blind person would._

_The place was eerily silent to the point where her shallow breathing seemed too loud._

_Yet, despite the fact there was no sound other than her breathing, the girl somehow felt as though someone else was here in the dark – someone who was watching her move around with unfriendly eyes. Her small hand slipped on the slick wall when a set of footsteps echoed through the air directly in front of her… almost as though someone were walking down a long hall just on the other side of a nearby wall. Ignoring her blindness, the tiny girl hurried towards the source of the sound with her small hand still feeling for a door._

_When her fingers slid across a metal surface, her heart skipped a beat._

_When she finally found a knob... she twisted it with all of her strength and shoved._

_The moment the door opened wide… the world around her dissolved with a blinding light and she suddenly found herself staring at a galaxy that had been dotted with millions upon millions of flickering stars. Nothing else was surrounding her except for that night sky: she was floating in an emptiness that seemed to stretch onward until the end of time._

_"Where am I?" she whispered, slowly looking around as her voice echoed away into the void of stars. "Hello?"_

_Her cloud-white hair slid around her body in soft tendrils as she gazed at everything, drifting in a weightless manner. A bright flash of light suddenly lit up the world around her, stirring the stars like ripples in a pond. When it faded, she beheld a handsome woman with extraordinarily long hair standing upon a rock in the middle of a liquid surface. Somehow, Katie knew she'd seen this lady somewhere once before... and even though she couldn't remember why, she knew the woman was powerful._

_"Who are you?" Katherine whispered, staring at the woman from her spot in the swirling starlight. "Where are we? Why are we here?"_

_"It is has been a long time," the woman stated in a lilting voice, staring at her face with gentle blue eyes. "You are no longer who you once were, but your soul and your heart are the same. Great evil is looking for you... you must not be pulled back into the stream of fate, for if you do... your history will repeat itself."_

_"My... history?" Katie asked, staring at the woman with blank eyes. "What do you mean? Who are you?"_

_The woman merely stared at her with eyes that seemed wise beyond their age: with an otherworldly grace, the gorgeous blonde lifted her hand..._

_And horrifying visions instantly burned their way into Katherine's mind._

_Her pupils dilated and she shrieked, clutching her head as flashes of horrifying monsters slitting the throats of screaming men and women roared through her head. Flashes of death... destruction, fire... her pink eyes widened when she beheld visions of crows feasting on rotting flesh, and she choked when their black feathers started raining down upon the blood-soaked earth. High above, a crimson moon hung in the air, and a single, raw-throated scream of agony echoed towards the heavens, wild like an animal's roar._

_The sound of it stirred her heart in an unfamiliar way._

_Grief? Familiarity?_

" _Do not return," the blonde woman stated, lowering her arm with a solemn air. "You mustn't return to this Land. Your life here ended long ago."_

_"W-what are you saying?!" Katie shrieked, staring at the woman with a horrified expression. "Who ARE you?!"_

_However, she froze and stared at something just beyond the spot where the blonde woman was standing. The stars around her were rippling... but then, in a single moment, they were burned away in a searing wave of heat and time somehow slowed down. Katie's silver hair was blasted away from her body in a weightless manner and her heart flew up her throat when a giant cat's eye made of fire rose behind the flickering blonde woman. She squeaked and clamped up like a mouse when the pupil contracted into a catlike slit and landed on her shaking form._

_The heat from its evil gaze made her heart quiver violently._

_However... a demonic voice soon drowned out the sound of the woman in front of her._

_The girl's amethyst eyes widened in horror._

_" **I see you...** " the hellish voice whispered, making her heart nearly stop; the mere sound of it sent a jolt of icy terror sweeping through her body. Katie covered her ears and tried not to listen anymore, but the voice was echoing inside her head rather than outside of it. " **I see you...** "_

"—ate!" a muffled voice called.

_"What IS this?!" Katherine cried, shielding her face when the fiery wind intensified. "Ow! Ow! Someone, help me!"_

_"Tauriel!" the woman called, voice fading and filling with static. "Do not... fate... history... the gateway!"_

_Katherine's long hair drifted around as the heat from the Eye's gaze fell across her body... and all of a sudden, she couldn't move._

_Her amethyst eyes started turning yellow from the inside out, glowing like a demon's in spite of her terrified expression._

_She could feel the fires of evil spreading throughout her soul._

_"Someone... help... me..." Katie whispered, unable to move or do anything as her life was extinguished by the fires of hell. "Nathan... help..."_

_" **I see you..."**  the demonic voice chanted, chuckling in a gravelly tone when Katie's body began to glow yellow. " **I've found you!** "_

_"No!" she whispered, slowly falling to her knees when a burning pain started to sear through her back. "Leave me alone!"_

_" **Come to me!** " the eye hissed; the blonde woman's blue eyes slowly widened when Katie's hair started lifting towards the sky and her body erupted with a wave of brilliant blue fire. " **Come back to the fires of Mor—** "_

"KATE ASHLEY! GET _UP!"_ someone roared, voice a little muffled. "NATHANIEL! GET YOUR LITTLE SISTER OUT OF BED, OR SO HELP ME GOD, I'LL STRANGLE HER!"

With a violent jolt, Katie's eyes snapped open wide and she gasped, frantically looking around her room with a palpitating heart. Her breathing was ragged and uneven as she took in her familiar surroundings. After a few moments of trying to calm her racing pulse, the albino girl slowly sat up and touched her forehead: strands of her silver hair were plastered against her cheeks and neck due to the cold sweat that had enveloped her body.

"It was just a dream…" she whispered hoarsely, closing her eyes. "It was another nightmare. Not real."

"Kate!" Nate's voice loudly hissed, banging on her door. "Kate, come on! Get up! The old bitch is in a really bad mood today!"

"Katherine!" a female voice shrieked from somewhere far below. "Get your ass out of that bed right now or swear I'll beat your ass! I mean it! And Nate, you'll be sleeping outside tonight if you don't do what I say!"

"What'd I tell ya," Nate muttered, opening the door and sliding inside her room with a weary posture. "She threatened me, too."

When the boy turned around and looked at her, Kate was once again struck with the odd sensation that she was looking at herself with short hair. Her twin looked almost exactly like her in every way aside from his broader shoulders, slightly thicker jaw, and taller stature. His facial features were very thin and soft like hers were, and his eyes had the exact same shape as her own, but there was still something masculine about his face when it was compared with hers. Regardless of that fact, whenever the twins were standing side by side, they looked nearly identical.

There were only a few subtle differences, despite their difference in gender.

"This is rare," Kate stated quietly, staring at her brother with blank eyes. "You hardly ever come into my room, even when Toni is angry."

"Just hurry up and get dressed!" Nate snapped, folding his arms before turning around. "I'm not leaving your room until you're ready, all right?! We're thirty minutes late, and I don't want to sleep outside tonight! Toni threatened to put me out again if I didn't get you up within three minutes. That stupid bitch apparently thinks you'll listen better if I'm the one doing all the nagging!"

Kate's eyes widened and she bolted out of bed: the last thing she wanted was to get beat up first thing in the morning.

More importantly, she didn't want to give Nate another reason to hate her.

After furiously rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the girl brushed her thigh-length hair and pulled her bangs behind her head, expertly tying them in place with a large black ribbon. Kate then slipped on her school clothes, and after making a few adjustments to her Academy uniform, she buttoned her blazer, zipped up her knee-length skirt, and hastily grabbed her bag.

"I'm disgusted by how quickly you did that," Nate sneered, averting his eyes. "You're really starting to act like Emily."

Kate's heart skipped a beat and her stomach tied itself into a painful knot at the statement.

She wanted to let out a protest, but her throat locked up and she merely remained silent since there really was nothing she could say to counter his words. Even though she and her twin were completely identical aside from their genders, the boy hated her more than the families they'd been forced to live with over the years. The two of them had all of the same tastes and were extremely similar in personality… but Nate hated her to the point where he'd sided with her enemies instead of protecting her from them. 

After a moment, she let it go and her eyes deadened.

"If Toni would give us more than two minutes to get ready, we'd actually be on time," Kate quietly replied, ignoring his latter statement. "I've always been awkward with my movements, so doing this  every single day isn't as easy as it looks… trust me."

"Shut up," Nate grunted, lifting his violet eyes and glaring at her hair, "and while you're at it, take the damn ribbon out. It's contraband at school, anyway: no jewelry or hair ornaments."

"No," Kate retorted softly, not meeting his gaze. "Emily was the one who gave it to me."

"That's precisely why I don't like it," the boy snarled, making her flinch. "You're trying to be like her and it pisses me off! You have no right to idolize her, so take the fucking ribbon out of your hair!"

"No," Kate weakly repeated, turning away from him and folding her arms. "Nate... what happened that day... it wasn't my fault."

"Bullshit!" Nate hissed, stomping past the girl so quickly that tendrils of her long hair followed him. "God, I _really_ hope something horrible happens to you today. Disappear already!"

Kate flinched and closed her eyes when he slammed the door shut and thumped down the stairs.

"Again..." she whispered, feeling her eyes stinging. "How many times have you said it this week, Nathan?"

She didn't know, exactly, but it had to have been over twenty times in the last three days alone.

Once she was able to shake off the pain coursing through her heart, the pale girl slinked out of her room and walked past her angry-eyed foster mother.

The woman already had a bottle of Bud Light in her hands.

"Hold it right there, you little shit!" Toni snapped, clutching her arm; the girl winced a bit when the woman's fingers dug into her skin, but she stopped long enough to look at her. "I got a call from one of your teachers yesterday asking if your hair and eye color were natural, and I'm pissed because he threw a tantrum."

"How is that my fault?" Katherine carefully inquired, shivering and averting her eyes when the woman glared. "Nathan and I never asked to look like this."

"Well, good," the woman sneered, fingers tightening in anger. "If that's the case, tell your brother that he needs to pick up a double set of colored contacts from the market today. I'm taking both of you to dye your hair blonde this afternoon!"

"Huh?!" Katie squeaked, eyes widening in horror. "T-Toni, you can't! I'm pretty sure a lot of other albinos can do that kind of stuff, but WE can't do it because OUR type of albinism won't allow it! Our eyes are too sensitive for contacts, and our hair will fall out if we try to dye it! It won't work, and I am  _not_ walking around completely bald AND blind because of you! I will LEAVE before that happens."

The woman looked startled by her response, but it quickly turned to rage.

"Don't talk back to me, you little shit!" the woman snapped, thrusting the girl forward with both hands. "If it's not possible the good old fashioned way, we'll do a temporary dye! Now get going and don't be late! If I get a call saying you were tardy, I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Kate very nearly smacked her cheek on the corner of the door in an attempt to catch her balance, but once she was outside she sprinted down the city streets as fast as she could go. This part of her day was the trickiest since she had to walk three miles each morning without being late for her first class. Toni wouldn't pay for her get on a bus—but to be frank, the girl was somewhat glad it had turned out this way since she loved to run.

Running made her dream of the day she could keep going without needing to stop.

However, when she was about halfway to her destination, Kate made it to the East River Overpass on Saint Matthew's BLVD and spotted her twin stopping in front of a pretty brunette wearing their academy uniform. She instantly slowed to a halt and gazed at the two of them, heart inexplicably growing heavier when they leaned against the metal railing and started talking to each other.

She watched the two of them for a little while, wondering what they were doing... but then her brother turned.

And the sound of the traffic, the water... no, _everything..._ it all went silent in her ears.

For a long moment, all she could do was stare, eyes large and knees shaking.

The world blurred.

Her eyes burned.

And for the first time in a very, very long time... tears slid down her cheeks, distorting what lay before her.

Her brother was smiling.

The last time she'd seen him smile, for any reason, had been almost six years ago.

She stood there, feeling as though she were going to shatter into pieces, and watched as her brother chatted with the brunette at his side.

 _He hates me,_  Katherine realized, feeling her chest tightening; rubbing her eyes, she lowered her head and buried her face in her hands.  _He really hates me... if he can smile at other people like that with no problem when I'm not around, there's no other explanation for it._

Secretly, she had believed that he simply hated the world. That he was angry about everything that had happened. That maybe, deep down, he cared about her but couldn't express it anymore.

She had been wrong.

He didn't hate the world. 

He hated _her._

She stood there for an immeasurable amount of time, muscles trembling and heart burning, face buried in her hands as the chilling New York wind tugged at her hair: during that time, her brother and the brunette walked away, holding each other's hands. When they finally turned around the corner and vanished from sight, Kate continued standing there. Shaking. After several more moments, she lifted her face and rubbed her eyes. Then she slowly turned away and looked out over the East River with haunted violet eyes.

She had always known that her brother blamed her for what had happened.

The proof she had rested in the fact that he was always saying that he wished something bad would happen to her.

He didn't need her at all... hell, he didn't even want to be anywhere near her.

He was right... Kate agreed.

Disappearing would be a good thing.

Slowly climbing up onto the bridge railing, the girl sat down on the edge of it and looked out at the canal, planning to jump off.

But once again, just like that day on the hotel rooftop, her muscles froze and all she could do was stare at the chasm below. 

She'd wanted to die for a long time now, but she was too much of a coward: she couldn't take action because she was too scared to try.

Her hair billowed around her face when a cold wind touched her back, ruffling her pleated skirt.

She sat there, willing her body to move... but it wouldn't budge.

So she lifted her eyes and took in what lay before her, trying to find something, anything... just like before. Beyond the canal was the ocean… and since it was a very cold, grey day, she felt as though the sea matched her mood. After a moment of gazing at the endless planes of gray water in front of her, she slid to her feet and took a deep breath, planning to jump for real. However, someone unexpectedly caught her wrist and she glanced to the left, eyeing the culprit with irritated eyes. However, she furrowed her brows when she realized it was a little boy standing behind her: he didn't look any older than ten years old. 

Her violet eyes widened and she froze when he looked at her with piercing brown eyes.

"You mustn't jump," he stated calmly, examining her with an emotionless visage. "You're... Precious."

Katherine blinked, staring at him in total bewilderment.

"Who the hell are you?" the girl deadpanned, frowning at him. "You shouldn't say stuff like that to people: it's not funny!"

"You're right, Precious... it's not," the boy quietly replied, looking at her with that same unnervingly piercing expression. "You mustn't jump. Must not harm yourself."

"Don't try to tell me what to do! You're just a little kid!" Kate snapped, jerking her hand out of his grasp. "You don't even know me!"

The boy's face twisted into a rather strange looking smile.

"We know you very well... because you are my own..." he stated gently, looking up at her with eyes that weren't all there. "My precious..."

"Stop calling me Precious, you little creep!" the albino spat, mouth pulling taught. "You don't know me! You're just some brat who probably isn't even old enough to understand what depression is!"

"Oh, but we do know," the boy giggled, looking straight into her eyes with a fairly antagonistic smile. "We know everything... about your school, about your brother, and about the _red rivers_."

Katherine froze like a statue.

She gaped at him with huge eyes, face draining completely of color: knees shaking, she observed the kid with a more wary visage, suddenly feeling afraid of him.

"How... how do you know about that?!" she stammered, shaking her head without taking her eyes off his. "How?! Tell me!"

"You'll know the truth soon enough, Precious," he sighed, looking at her with that same strange smile. "After all, the Dark Master is looking for us."

"Wait, what?" Kate whispered, heart skipping a beat when she recalled her nightmares. "What do you mean by Dark Master?"

However, the boy's brown eyes merely flicked upward and he stared at something high above in a spacey manner: before he could say anything more, a black feather fell down in front of Katie's eyes, making the hair on her neck stand up. When a deep thundering sound and a sudden screech unexpectedly split the air far in the distance, the girl jumped and whirled to face the ocean in in alarm.

"Be careful, Precious," the boy murmured quietly, voice fading away. "He's close to us."

"Quit it with the creeper act!" Kate snapped, staring off at the ocean with blank eyes. "Seriously, didn't you hear that?! What  _was_  it?! An explosion of some sort...?"

The thundering sound had indeed resembled an explosion, but the noise that had come after it had curdled her blood.

It had sounded like a cross between a banshee's shriek and a raven's croak.

It was like something clean out of a child's nightmare.

The girl slowly rubbed her arms and leaned forward, squinting to see past the fog that was slowly moving across the distant horizon towards landfall.

"What in the world was that?" Kate finally muttered, looking up at the sky. "Hey, Kid, did you even hear it?"

However, the albino girl trailed off once she turned around since the boy she'd been talking to had vanished. Katherine instantly blinked and looked around, even going as far as leaning over the edge of the water just in case the crazy boy had jumped off of it. Somehow, he had actually managed to disappear without a single trace, which completely baffled her. However, when Kate stood up on the railing again, she was just about to turn and step onto the bridge when another hand gripped her wrist.

"Hi! It seems we meet yet again," a familiar voice stated, making the girl twitch; she blinked when she was forcibly pulled off the bridge and set flat on her feet without warning. "Still, why is it that every time I see you, you're in a rather dangerous situation? Are you trying to kill yourself or are you just a thrill seeker?"

Kate sighed in irritation when she beheld a clean-cut man who looked to be in his late twenties.

The man from the rooftop was back.

Unfortunately, this guy hadn't left her alone since she'd had the vision of him getting into that car accident two weeks ago: ever since, he'd been popping up out of nowhere at the weirdest of times. Usually when she was contemplating different ways to die or even just standing in a fairly precarious-looking situation.

Such as the one she was currently in.

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore," the girl grumbled, folding her arms and ignoring the grey-eyed man in front of her. "Why the hell are you here again? Are you stalking me or something?"

"Not at all," he chuckled, making the girl look up at him in disbelief; he was smiling broadly and had an odd gleam in his eyes. "I spotted you by chance, that's all."

"And you keep acting like you know me... why?" Kate asked suspiciously, giving him a wary stare. "Are you one of those crazy types who has no friends? Because if you are, you're talking to the wrong person: I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but I'm not exactly a people person, either."

"You sure have a grim way of looking at things!" the man laughed, slapping his knee. "No, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did."

"Well, get on with it then," Katherine deadpanned, wanting nothing more than for him to leave her alone. "I have to get to school, and this is the twentieth time you've found me just to thank me."

"Okay, okay, I lied... I actually have a question," he sighed, then looked around and leaned close to her face, which in turn made her lean away with furrowed brows. "Look... I don't know how you knew what was going to happen to me that day, but your warning actually saved my life. I was curious about what you said to me, so I planned on ignoring my phone during the entire drive to work."

"And let me guess," Kate droned, rolling her eyes, "you did?"

"Yes, I did," the man confirmed, nodding before his bright expression turned dark, "but when I got to the stoplight at the crossing of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, I received a really important call from my boss. The coincidence gave me a terrible start, I'll admit it flat out... but still, I waited. Then, as terrifying as it was... when the light turned green... a runaway bus going sixty miles an hour  _flew_  across the street, lost control, and crashed into a telephone pole."

Katherine listened with hollow eyes: her irises literally had no sheen whatsoever.

"I swear to god," the man continued, "if it hadn't been for you, I probably would pulled out in front of it."

"Well, be glad you didn't then," she muttered, turning as if to walk away. "I'm going to be late."

"Please, tell me," her stalker exclaimed. "How did you know?! How did you know about the accident? And about my car?"

Kate stood there with a grim expression on her face, not meeting his eyes.

"I don't really want to talk about that," Katie retorted, instantly stepping away from him with a fierce glare. "Just be thankful that my premonition saved your life and forget that this ever happened. From here on out, you never met me."

"Premonition?" the man asked, staring at her with a fierce curiosity. "You mean, like... a  _psychic_  premonition?"

"Call it what you want, I don't really care," Kate snapped, grabbing her bag and turning on her heel. "Anyway, you came here to thank me, right? Well, here ya go: you're welcome! Now, please go away before I file a restraining order!"

"Calm down," the man sighed, giving her a subtle scowl. "All I wanted to do was find out the truth and thank you... okay?"

"Thank me in a way that doesn't involve interacting with me, then," Kate snapped, giving him a glare. "I don't like people, so leave me alone! I have enough of my own problems to deal with!"

Just as she was about to storm off, she happened to catch a glimpse of several gleaming white feathers resting on the ground where the mystery boy had been standing. After a moment of staring at them with furrowed brows, Kate had a weird mental flash of nine hooded figures standing in a dark classroom and shook her head before jogging towards her school. Still, there were shivers running down her spine and for some reason, she had been thoroughly disturbed by what had transpired.

Not to mention she also had a bad feeling about the guy she kept bumping into: he seemed a little too sketchy for comfort.

The rest of the walk to school was uneventful.

However, since there wasn't enough time to stop by the library, Kate attempted to walk to her first class... but she was stopped by a group of girls standing outside of the door.

Katie stared at them for a moment, wondering why they were blocking her, until a voice split the silence of the hall.

"Well, look who it is," a familiar lilting drawl stated, making the albino wince. "We never thought you'd show up!"

Slowly turning her head, Katherine swallowed when she found herself staring at three familiar girls: the girl on the left was Alexa Milano, a beautiful Hispanic girl who was known throughout the Academy for procuring fake ID's; the girl on the right was a redheaded punk named Brittany Thompson, who had a temper to match her hair; and the girl leading the two of them was none other Tiffany Walt, the Queen Bee of Ivy Ridge. Moving in like vultures, Brittney and Alexa leaned against the lockers on either side of Kate with folded arms.

Tiffany, on the other hand, walked right up to Katherine.

"I smell a fake blonde whore," she drawled, waving her hand in front of her nose. "You should really study outside. We don't want to get an STD from you."

Irritation sparked in Katherine's heart upon hearing that, and before she could stop herself, she let out a bitter retort.

"Hypocrisy isn't a virtue," she gently murmured, not lifting her eyes, "and for the record, my hair is _white._ Not blonde."

 _"White?"_ Tiffany laughed, looking around to see if anyone else was witnessing this perfect moment of comedy. "Seriously, who the hell dyes their hair _white?!"_

Kate clenched her jaw, trying to fight it back... but, she couldn't.

Tiffany had been sitting next to her in class since the day she'd first transferred, but that had only given her a chance to figure out what bugged her.

And it pissed her off.

"Don't talk about me like you  _know_  me, bitch," the albino hissed, finally losing her cool; everyone fell silent and students stared at her all over the place. "Just because you spend all your class time staring at me doesn't mean you know me. Aside from what little you've seen, you know absolutely nothing about me. I've looked like this since the day I was born, Tiffany: I've never dyed my hair, I'm not wearing contacts, and unlike you, I'm still a virgin, so just shut  _up_ and _leave me alone._ "

And with that, she turned and stalked back over to the door, glaring at the girls in front of it.

"Move," Kate stated coldly, looking at them with sharp violet eyes. "Now."

Everyone instantly backed off, so she moved past and headed over to her desk. 

"What a weirdo," one of the girls still standing in the hall muttered. "Maybe the rumors about her being a witch really _are_ true."

"I've heard that Albinos are actually considered demons in some countries," another girl whispered. "Don't doubt the rumors! There really is something off about her!"

"Ew..." a third girl muttered. "So, she's an albino? Nasty... that's even worse than a bad dye-job."

"What's an albino?" a blonde girl standing next to her asked.

"It's a viral disease that turns rats, snakes, and people pure white," a black girl snorted. "I heard it's contagious."

"For real?!" a boy exclaimed, hurrying over. "So, the witch actually caught a disease that turned her hair and skin totally white? And that's why she looks so weird?"

"Yeah," the black girl explained, lifting her head proudly. "I heard it also turns people's eyes bright red. I mean, just take a look at her brother! He's all white, too! He probably caught the damn virus!"

"Oh, man, that's freaky," the blonde girl mumbled, shivering. "I really hope I don't catch the albino disease from going to class with her."

Kate rolled her eyes in disgust at their fantasies and took her seat by the window, pulling out her usual book.

After she cracked it open, ignoring everyone around her.

By the time the other girls took their seats, she was already so far in to the pages of her book that the snickers and subtle antagonism didn't even register. It was the book Mrs. McKinley had given her. Every day since she'd gotten it, the girl read it everywhere she went, looking for something she couldn't place: at school, at home, whenever she had a spare moment... even until her eyes closed. And yet, regardless of that fact, everything she'd seen in it so far was ridiculous: from mythological creatures to monsters she'd never even heard of before, even in movies, this book had it all.

It contained descriptions about things like angels, demons, orcs, winged horses, giant wolves, walking trees, and giant birds—about fairies, will-o'-the-wisps, sea serpents, trolls, and so much more... so much, in fact, that it made her head spin. And yet, so far she hadn't seen a single thing that sparked familiarity with her nightmares: for all her searching, this was really just a regular mythology book, and it obviously had nothing to do with her dreams since none of the creatures within its pages actually existed.  Even so, she read through it until the teacher came in, then put the book away and stared out the window: there was a small announcement concerning the student body president and a speech, but she hardly noticed.

The girl who'd been chosen to manage the class, Erika Sanders, was given free reign over her classmates while the teacher went to the office. 

Unfortunately, that's also when things began to go downhill.

"As you all know," Erika stated evenly, addressing the class with folded hands, "the grading system for this half of the term is going to be a bit different since the school made some changes to our lessons. From today onward, every single person sitting in this classroom contributes to the average grading system, which means that you'll be compared to all the other classes. The teachers believe some competitive motivation is necessary to get our school rating up, so let's do our best together in all of our classes, okay? "

"Excuse me?" Tiffany suddenly called. "I have a question about the seating chart."

"Yes?" Erika called, lifting her stunning blue eyes and looking at her with a confident expression. "What is it?"

"Is it okay if I change my seat?" Tiffany inquired, looking at her fingernails with a cute smile. "I'm getting tired of this one."

"Eh? I... well, I'm not so sure about that, since... the school has a specific order..." Erika faltered, staring at the girl in dismay. "The seating chart is all arranged by registration number."

"Come on! Since we're starting out with this new grading system and all, I figured it would be all right!" the blonde girl retorted, tossing her hair. "It'll give me a fresh start, you know?"

"Why don't you just tell her the truth?" another girl muttered, looking up at her with a smirk. "Just admit that you don't want to sit next to the _witch."_

Kate didn't even blink when the class started sniggering, nor did she raise her eyes when Erika's confident expression faltered.

Several people immediately turned to look at the albino girl, but she purposely kept her face blank and stared at her hands. This was pretty common: every now and then, a daringly bold student would do something to get a little attention and make a fool out of her, so it didn't really bother her as much as it should have. Especially since it was Tiffany doing the mocking: even though Little Miss Blondie was a lovely little angel in front of the teachers, there wasn't a single girl in their whole school who _didn't_ know she was always standing on a shady street corner after dark. 

Plus, sex-related rumors in their school circulated really quick since the guys liked to brag.

Long-story short, Tiffany was the Academy's bicycle: nearly every guy in school had gotten a ride at least once at some point.

Katherine shuddered and uncomfortably tightened her knees together, feeling nauseous.

She didn't get how people could lose their morality like that.

"Well, I was just trying to spare her feelings a little… but now I guess I'll be honest about it," the blonde girl sighed, standing up and cocking her hip; after a moment, she looked at everyone with a mocking grin. "For starters... she's so  _morbid!_  I can't even stand it anymore! She's always reading creepy books with pictures of dragons and spells and wizards or whatever, and don't even get me started on all the stuff she draws in her notebook! She's too weird to be my partner!" 

"What'd you expect, Tiff?" a boy hooted, eliciting even louder fits of laughter. "She's a witch! She pretty much  _lives_  on that crap!"

"Come on! Someone change seats with me!" the blonde girl wailed, flailing her arms in a mocking manner. "I don't wanna get the albino disease!"

"Please, stop it!" Erika called, futilely trying to speak over the uproarious laughter that filled the room. "Everyone, be quiet!"

"How can I?" Tiffany laughed, shooting the downtrodden albino girl a smug look. "This freak makes it impossible. How can I focus if I need to worry about getting cursed or sick with her disease?!"

 _Albinism isn't like that..._ Katie silently protested, staring at her desk with unhappy violet eyes.  _I'm not a witch…_   _my dreams... these visions... they're not my fault._

Unfortunately, nobody cared... and they most likely never would, so she kept her mouth shut.


	3. Chapter 3

  **Chapter Two: Ripples**

_The darkness had come for her again._

_Katie slowly opened her eyes and stared into the void of shadows, feeling her heart speeding up almost instinctively._

_The girl could hear the same distant dripping sound and smell the same cloying metallic air... as though the room were full of stale blood. Her heart skipped a beat when the realization hit her: something or someone had been slaughtered down here, all alone in the darkness. The albino lifted her hands, but paused when she felt something strange: instead of hitting a slick stone wall, she felt the sensation of warm skin and satin-like hair beneath her fingertips. After several moments of touching this anomaly with a bit of apprehension, she registered heavy breathing and blinked._

_She didn't know why, but she vaguely recognized the person standing in front of her._

_Not enough to know who it was, but enough to tell her this person was familiar._

_"Who are you...?" Katie whispered, struggling to see through the shadows. "Why are you here?"_

_"Shut up..." a female voice sneered, making her twitch. "I've always hated your 'oh-poor-me' act! I'm going to cut him away from you... you're the reason he's so unhappy!"_

_"I see you..." a familiar ragged voice whispered, echoing out of the darkness with the chilling rasp of fire. "I've found you..."_

_Almost immediately, the void of stars filled the air and Katie saw a gorgeous brunette standing in front of her. Katherine twitched when she realized she was staring at the the student council president of her school, Erika Montgomery: the girl's crystal blue eyes were full of cold hatred, and her expression was wrinkled with a terrible smile that had been laced with rage and satisfaction. It wasn't until the moment her blue eyes began to mirror the fiery cat's eye that the albino realized she was holding an enormous sword high above her head, shimmering tip facing a blood-red sky._

_High above, a crimson moon rippled into view._

"-ight as well..." a distant voice sniggered. "After all, she won't know."

_Katherine's heart froze when the blade came down._

"NO!" Kate shrieked, bolting upright in bed and flailing around in mass hysteria. "NO! NO, NO, NO! NOOOOO! HELP!"

"Holy shit!" Nathan squawked, jumping away from her bedside with both hands raised. "Chill! Chill! I wasn't really gonna do it!"

"H-huh?" Katie asked, glancing at up her brother with frightened violet eyes: the boy was holding an uncapped marker in his left hand, but aside from that, he looked rather spooked for the first time in a long time. "Nathan...? Wait, w-what are you doing in my bedroom?! And what's with the marker?!"

"N-nothing, all right? Damn, Kate, you nearly gave me a heart attack," the albino boy irritably huffed, shakily capping the marker and shoving it into his back pocket; she blinked when he hefted his backpack. "Anyway, get dressed... Toni's letting us ride a public bus since another social worker is coming to check on us this afternoon. She said she doesn't want us to be tired for the meeting."

"For real?!" the girl squeaked, looking at him in surprise; he merely stared at her with a flat expression. "O-okay... um, I'll... I'll be ready in a second. Just hold on."

True to her word, the girl leapt out of bed and slipped on her uniform in a flurry of action, but her brother scowled when she tied the familiar black ribbon into her hair. Once Katie had gone through her usual morning routine and had grabbed all of her needed belongings, the twins reluctantly went downstairs together and headed for the bus stop without meeting each other's eyes: it was an extremely rare treat for them to be able to ride the bus and not have to walk all the way to school... but for some weird reason, Katie's smile didn't stay fixed in place like she'd intended it to.

She ended up staring into space with a such blank expression that she actually caught Nathan's attention.

"What's your deal?" he muttered, inconspicuously nudging her shoulder to avoid drawing attention; the girl blinked a few times and looked up at him with a dazed expression before shrugging and staring out the window. He seemed rather vexed by her lack of response, but the girl was kind of happy to see the anxiety lacing his expression. The fact that he was worried was a sign that he might have still cared about her.

Even if it was only a little.

"It's nothing... I'm just surprised by the fact that you're concerned," Katie murmured quietly, glancing up at him with stoic eyes when he frowned. "You've already sided with the popular groups in school, and you've befriended every other person at school who doesn't like me... so, why are you worried now?"

"You know why I'm worried," Nathan quietly retorted, giving her a serious look. "The last time you woke up screaming, someone _died._ "

That made Katie shut her mouth and keep it shut, since for once... he was completely correct.

It gave her a sick feeling in the core of her heart.

"No need to worry," Katie stated softly, finally giving her brother a very feeble smile. "This time, the nightmares are about me, and I don't plan on doing anything to prevent them."

Nathan's eyes flickered a bit upon hearing her statement, and for a few moments... he actually looked scared.

"You said 'nightmares...'" her brother stated slowly, narrowing his violet eyes and looking at her with a very serious expression, "not 'nightmare.' Does that mean you've been having more than one?"

"Why do you care?" Kate distantly inquired, not meeting his gaze and staring blankly out the window. "I already told you that you don't need to worry."

"Don't give me that bullshit," Nate snapped, gripping her shoulder and jerking her around. "Just tell me already!"

"Nathan, I've been having this same nightmare for so long that I stopped counting over two years ago," Katie lifelessly retorted, shooting him a sullen glare and ignoring how his eyes widened. "It's always the same one, so quit worrying. Like I said, it's not about you!"

"That's not the point!" he hissed, tightening his grip on her shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me until now?! Are you always  _trying_  to piss me off?!"

"Excuse me?" Katherine sneered, lifting her hands and shoving him back a step; for once, he looked startled and taken aback by her actions. "What makes you think you're entitled to know anything about me?! Did you think being twins automatically means you get to know everything that happens in my life? Don't make me laugh, Nate... I didn't say anything to you because I didn't see a point to it."

"Why the hell not?" the albino boy snapped, glowering at her with a clenched jaw. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because every single time you get mad, even over small matters, you say that you wish something bad would happen to me," Kate stated softly, turning away with a dazed expression on her face; she didn't even notice that her brother twitched. "I've started having nightmares about me dying, Nathan... and with the way things are between us, I figured you'd be happy enough to throw a  _party_ if I told you I thought I was going to die. That's why I kept my mouth shut. Are you satisfied now?"

Nathan recoiled at the girl's statement and stared at her with furrowed brows.

She wasn't looking at him any longer and seemed to be genuinely upset.

His sister was normally a very quiet and emotionless girl, and she rarely let things like anger get the best of her... especially when it came to how she addressed him. He had always figured that her sisterly attachment would never change, but seeing her act like this was kind of unsettling. Moreover, the boy couldn't deny that her venomous words stung a bit. After all, she had a good point: he'd been pretty awful to her lately, and he had no right to know about her private life.

"Yeah, I'm plenty satisfied," he sneered, hiding his unease. "I wouldn't lift a hand to save you if something really happened. In fact, I  _hope_  it does."

"Don't say that!" Katie whispered, subtle anger switching to fright in an instant. "Even as a joke!"

"Don't start this again," Nathan hissed, gripping her wrist and squeezing it tight. "Don't try to act like the victim, all right?"

"Is that truly what you think I'm doing?" Katie wearily asked, lifting her arm and jerking her hand out of his grasp. "Let's just set one thing straight, Nathan: if anybody has a right to feel irritable and act pissy towards other people, it's  _me._  Nightmare or not, I'm going to be completely fine. All right?"

"So? Like I just said," Nathan muttered, looking down at her with angry eyes, "I wouldn't lift a..."

The boy trailed off when he saw his sister's expression: her biting words didn't really match the empty expression on her face. He blinked and stared at her emotionless eyes; then he flicked his gaze to her hand, which was clutching the bar above them. They were on a public bus, after all: the seats were taken due to the morning rush hour, so they'd had to stand. Katie's hands were shaking violently, but she didn't appear to notice. She was staring out the window again, but her violet eyes were somehow... gone.

He didn't like how empty they looked.

"Anyone home?" Nathan hesitantly called, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Katie quietly asked, looking at him with a dazed expression. "Did you say something?"

"Okay, now you've got me worried," the albino boy muttered, scowling out the window. "Cut the crap and tell me what's happening to you, okay? Every time you have a nightmare, it actually becomes real in some way or another, so if you're having those dreams again, even if they're about you, I want you to tell me what you see. You're the only family I have left, Katie: I hate you, and I sure as hell haven't forgiven you for what happened to Emily, but that doesn't mean I want you to die."

For a moment, the girl merely stared at the floor of the bus with a blank expression.

"I... don't think it will escalate that far, even if something  _does_  happen," Katie hesitantly lied, giving him another halfhearted smile before she shrugged her shoulders. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I mean, the nightmares are a little... um, well, how should I put this? Surreal? I mean, since dragons, giant birds, and huge demon eyes made of fire don't exactly exist, I reckon I'm safe from crap like that. It's just... in my dreams, I keep seeing the face of this creepy blonde woman who keeps telling me that I can't return... and that, if I do, I'll... die. I think."

"That doesn't sound like a joke," Nathan muttered, giving her a dark look of dismay. "Should I be worried...?"

"No, just continue ignoring me like you always have," Katie sighed, watching her brother's face. "That's all we can really do at this point."

Nathan seemed to be genuinely disturbed by what she'd told him.

With good reason, too.

In spite of the unrealistic factors that had come into play while she'd been sleeping, she still had a terrible feeling in her stomach... and it was only growing stronger with each passing day. She didn't know why yet, but something was coming for her... fast. And whatever it was, she knew it wasn't going to end well.

That much she was sure of.

A soft sigh slipped through Katie's nose as she watched the unfamiliar scenery pass by: in this part of New York, there were pockets of neighborhoods with houses that looked exactly the same. The girl secretly loved the suburbs, but sometimes the fact that everything looked alike really  _bothered_  her. Her thoughts soon drifted to the little boy she'd seen a few days ago... the one who'd vanished. It had been almost a week since that day on the bridge, but so far, nothing had really happened to prove that what he'd said was true.

Still, the vanishing act was a little weird, and she wanted to talk to Miss McKinley about it.

"We're here..." Nathan muttered, roughly elbowing her arm before he hefted his backpack. "Let's go."

"No... you go ahead; I'll be fine on my own," Kate murmured in a soft tone, trying to keep her brother away from her. "I've always been fine."

"If you say so," he grunted, sounding like he didn't care one way or another. "Later."

Katie stared at his back as he headed down the aisle and got off the bus: then she followed him, moving much more slowly with her head lowered.

"Goodbye," she mumbled quietly, slipping the long strap of her bag over her shoulder and hefting her pack. "Have a good day."

The girl's arms were hanging limply at her sides after she gently stepped off the city bus, and with an emotionless expression, she looked at the path leading to the school. She swallowed when her long white hair was slowly swept off to the side by a gentle breeze... she could already feel her throat locking up.

Like always, she felt as though this were a death sentence.

However, when she finally arrived on school grounds, Katherine instinctively realized that something was wrong: every single girl and boy standing in the area glanced up and started looking at her. Everywhere Katherine looked, there were groups of boys and girls looking straight at her: some had piercings, dyed hair, multitudes of tattoos, but all of them were wearing identical school uniforms worn with careless attitudes.

"What the hell is up with everyone today...?" Kate wondered, slowly turning her head and looking at everyone with furrowed brows. "Why are they staring at me like that?"

She didn't know why, but staring was an understatement: death glares was a much more accurate description. Despite her expressionless exterior, she could feel her heart turning cold, and an unfamiliar ringing sensation started building up behind her eyes. After a few moments of standing stock still in the middle of the sidewalk, the girl slowly began walking toward the building doors, discreetly keeping an eye on the people around her with a tense demeanor on her face. However, Tiffany and her little group of sluts halted the albino before she could walk up the stairs.

"So," the blonde girl giggled, giving her a sinister expression. "I guess there's no way for you to deny that you're a witch now, is there?"

Katherine blinked and did a double take, staring at her as though she'd grown another head.

"Um, sorry?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow and staring at the girl in total confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Playing innocent won't work this time, skank," Brittany sneered, pulling a newspaper out and tapping it. "Your face is all over this thing! You can't hide the fact that you're a freak anymore! I guess you must have been desperate for some positive attention, right? Is that why he wrote such a nice story? Did you let him fuck you for it?"

"Uh, what the hell are you talking about?" Katie snapped, finally losing her cool. "Seriously, give me that thing."

When she snatched it out of Brittany's hands and unrolled it, the girls smirked since Katie's stoic demeanor went clean out the window within seconds. For the first time in a long time, her eyes widened and her jaw tightened: she looked stunned. On the front of the newspaper was a picture of her face: when it had been taken, she didn't exactly know, but there was a photo of her standing on the East River bridge and looking at the sky.

"See?" Alexa sneered, watching as the albino's jaw slowly went slack. "Can't hide it now, you little whore."

"What the hell?!" Katie whispered, collapsing to her knees when her legs buckled; she frantically flipped the page and started reading, eyes enormous and heart racing with disbelieving anxiety. "What the hell is this?! I never... I never gave anyone permission to do this!"

"What?" Tiffany scoffed, checking her nails. "Oh, don't try that... it's pathetic."

Kate couldn't even hear her: she was so immersed in reading what had been written that her mind had gone numb.

The headline was appalling.

 _"Teenage Girl saves a Fox News reporter using shocking psychic ability"_  

"No," Kate stammered, shaking her head before she started reading. "No, no, no, no, no! NO! That creepy stalker?! He was a news reporter?!"

Feeling herself going numb, the girl frantically read through the article, trying not to panic.

_In a shocking and somewhat unbelievable turn of events, last week we discovered that our own Fox News' reporter, Gene Hughes, was saved by a local New York teenager in a most unusual way. He claims that the girl warned him to be careful about driving through a well-known street crossing, and like any rational man, he didn't really pay attention to it... but then, in a startling turn of events, that warning actually saved his life.  
_

_"From what I could tell, Katherine was a highly unusual young lady... in several different ways," Gene told News Reporter, Beyonca Martinez. "When I first met her, I thought she was suicidal. I mean, she was standing on the railing surrounding the edge the Masteria Hotel's rooftop, but at the same time... there was a part of me that thought, incredulously, that she might be an angel. I've never seen anyone with white hair before, and her eyes... they were like something right out of a fairy tale."_

_When we asked Gene to recount his experiences with the teen, he claimed that she warned him about the connection between his phone and the accident. Low and behold, within ten seconds of arriving at the street crossing, his phone did indeed start ringing: Gene then proceeded to ignore it, which was the key that saved his life._

_"If I_   _had ignored the warning she'd given me and picked up that call," Gene tells Fox, looking at the reporters with shaken eyes, "I might not be standing here today. That girl saved my life: ten seconds after that phone rang, a runaway bus shredded across the street and crashed into a telephone pole. To think, that could have been me... it's terrifying."_

_According to witnesses, who also saw the accident, nobody on the bus was seriously injured, but there were quite a few scrapes and bruises. We've asked Gene if he thinks this brave and somewhat unusual girl would be willing to meet with Fox News for a formal report, but as of right now, he doesn't know anything about her aside from her name._

Kate was in shock: the little color in her cheeks had completely gone white, and her eyes were blank with horror.

"What's wrong, Witch?" Tiffany asked, leaning down with a nasty little smirk. "Cat got your tongue?"

Shredding the newspaper without a word, Katie lunged to her feet and tore up the stairs.

Everyone's eyes were on her when she tore down the hall, but she was so determined to get away from the people around her that she ended up running around for ten minutes before she found the library. Once she got there, the girl slammed the doors shut and sank back down to her knees, muscles shaking violently. However, the sound of a grandmotherly chuckle couldn't even bring her spirits up.

"Why, hello, Katie," Miss McKinley called, sounding surprised. "Is something the matter?"

The girl didn't answer: she couldn't.

She was so sick of everything, so tired of being different, that she couldn't even look at the one person who'd accepted her.

"Miss... McKinley," Katherine stated shakily, slowly crawling back to her feet and finally turning around; when she looked up, the woman's smile was wiped clean and she stood up with a startled expression, since the albino girl had tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I..."

"W-what's wrong?" the old woman stammered, leaving the desk when Kate's face scrunched up and she clutched the front of her skirt. "What happened?"

"The whole world knows I'm a freak!" the girl stated, trying to fight back the ache in her body. "T-the newspaper... I'm in the newspaper! He put me in a newspaper!"

"I know..." Miss McKinley stated soothingly, stopping in front of her and setting her weathered hands on the girl's shoulders. "I know, sweetheart, I read the paper every day! What you did doesn't make you a freak, it makes you a hero! And don't you ever forget it! So, you've got a little more to you than others... does that make you bad? Not at all! I've lived for sixty five years, child, and in this day and age... well, it's a rare thing to meet a child as sweet and honest as you are, dear."

"Huh?" Kate whimpered, slowly turning around and staring at her with dazed amethyst eyes. "What do you-?"

"Shhh, don't talk," the woman soothed, staring into her eyes with a warm smile. "Even if you believe that the whole school thinks you're weird, that doesn't mean it's true: for example, I think you're a sweetheart! Especially considering the environment you live in... Lord have Mercy, you'd have to be a very special girl indeed to be able to smile at people while living with such a horrible woman."

That was what did it.

For the first time in a long time, Katherine couldn't keep her mask in place and began to cry: tears slowly welled up in her eyes and started trickling down her pale cheeks. The girl's face slowly scrunched up even further and she let out a sob... and then another... and then, she finally started bawling.

Katie slowly clenched the front of her pleated skirt with shaking fists and tilted her head back, hiccuping and squeaking even as she fought to stop crying.

Then she was stepping forward, willingly walking into the librarian's grandmotherly arms.

Miss McKinley rubbed her back and sighed when her shaking fists tightened onto the back of her floral-print dress.

"There, there," the woman murmured. "Go ahead and let it all out."

"It hurts..." the albino choked, bawling like a child. "It hurts! It hurts! Everything... it just..."

She couldn't even finish: her words devolved into hysterical sobbing.

Veronica McKinley was one of the few who was aware that Katie had been alone not out of choice, but as a result of her differences: she had been completely alone... unloved, harassed... empty... it was no wonder she was crying. The woman couldn't do anything but rub Katherine's back, so that's exactly what she did. For ten minutes, she soothed the girl until she stopped crying.

Once she did, the old woman pulled away and patted her cheek before handing her a tissue box.

"Thank you," Katie sniffed, rubbing her puffy eyes and blowing her nose. "Please don't tell anyone that I cried, okay?"

"I won't, dear," the woman chuckled, planting a hand on her hip before she patted her graying curls. "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa before class?"

"That sounds nice," the albino mumbled, hiccuping again and rubbing her puffy eyes. "Thank you."

Still, somehow... there was a part of her that had gone completely numb.

Neither the librarian nor the student noticed that a familiar girl with long brown hair was peering through the door with a stunned expression.

However, five minutes later, the bell rang.

Kate instantly looked up and sighed, downing the last of her hot chocolate.

"I have to go now," she murmured, hiding her eyes with her hair. "Miss McKinley... thank you."

"You're very welcome," the old woman giggled, but just as Kate turned to go, she gasped. "Wait! Wait! I almost forgot!"

Katie turned around and waited, watching as the old woman dug around in her bag: after a moment, she pulled out a small wrapped box and hurried over, gently pressing it into the albino's hands. Kate stared at it in confusion, then looked up at the librarian.

"What's this?" she asked, blinking. "A gift?"

"Yes," the woman chuckled, giving her a wink. "I think it's a shame that you never wear make-up or do anything with your hair, especially since you're such a pretty girl. So, I took it upon myself to do a little research on your albinism in order to get you that. It won't irritate your skin, and its waterproof, so I truly believe its perfect for you. Think of me when you wear everything, eh? I'd love to help you apply it and do your hair up into pigtails, but you really do need to scoot! You'll be late if you don't rush!"

Kate nodded and gave a small, very rare smile of thanks before hurrying out the door and rushing to her locker. After stuffing the package inside, Kate ran to her first class and bolted inside just as the second bell rang.

When school started, Kate had to deal with even more stares than usual, and things became difficult since more people picked on her, more people talked about her, and more people stared. After two more classes had come and gone, Kate hastily ate her lunch and darted out of the cafeteria. The tiny girl then sprinted to her fourth period classroom before it could start. However, when she zipped inside and discovered that she wasn't alone like she'd been expecting, she went rigid: Alan Smirnoff and his buddies were standing in front of her desk.

They sneered the moment they saw her tense.

"Hey, freak, is this your book?" Alan laughed, tossing an empty milk carton into the wastebasket and making his way over to her. "You didn't happen to spill anything on it, did you? Maybe while you were admiring your freakshow slot in the newspaper?"

Kate stared in mortification: the book Miss McKinley had give her was lying on her desk amongst a puddle of milk. Her lips twisted as she stared at the soggy tome, but she felt no need to respond to their antagonism and firmly locked her jaw.

They didn't deserve to hear her speak.

In fact, nobody at this school did.

"There you go with the quiet act again," Salem sighed, rolling his eyes. "You could at least act like you're upset."

Kate still didn't respond.

However, her lack of reaction sent Alan into action, and he gripped her shoulder. The girl's eyes popped open wide in surprise when he jerked her forward by the arm, but she let out a squeak when Mitchell stuck his sneaker out and tripped her before she could catch her balance: she hit the ground so hard that her teeth jolted, and she let out a muffled yelp when she bashed her elbow on a desk.

"Ow..." she croaked, rolling her sleeve up and looking at her scraped arm; she instantly winced since it was already turning purple around the edges. "Shit... if this doesn't stop bleeding by last period, I might have to go to a hospital and have it cauterized."

The moment she said it, all three boys began laughing at her.

She rarely allowed any form of emotion to break through her mask, so it was a rare treat for these guys to see her look upset. Kate rolled her sleeve back down and stared at the ground: she smoothed her face out once again, carefully putting her mask back on.

She would deal with the pain in silence: she had promised herself long ago that she wouldn't let herself be weak.

"You're so creepy!" Salem stated condescendingly, kicking her ankle; Kate bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as a flash of pain rocketed up her leg. "Whenever I think about how ugly you are, sometimes I throw up in my mouth: looking at your face makes me sick to my stomach."

"Yeah! With those creepy eyes and all that nasty white hair," Mitchel added, speaking with a thoughtful expression, "I'd have killed you if you were my daughter! I mean, you're so pale and small that you look half dead already, and your face is just... ugh. I'd probably feel sorry for your parents if they hadn't done the smart thing and killed themselves!"

Feeling her heart aching at the mentioning of her parents, Kate slowly began to crawl back to her feet... but before she could manage it, Alan purposely lifted his leg and stepped on her back. With a startled yip, Kate crumpled to the ground and clenched her teeth when her elbow throbbed again: it felt as though the blood was already seeping through the cloth... but she was used to pain.

She'd gotten enough of it over the years that she could handle it.

Feeling nothing, she smoothed her expression once again and retained her emotionless demeanor, pink eyes losing their sheen and becoming almost dead.

"You know, even some of the teachers have been saying you're creepy!" Alan laughed, folding his arms. "The least you could do is cry like a normal human being! I might be inclined to leave you alone if you just cry and beg me to stop."

When she still didn't respond, the boys stopped grinning and became irritated: after a few more jeers, they gave up and started kicking her. Kate instantly buried her face in her arms, tensing as the blows to her ribcage and legs sent agony rocketing through her muscles. She endured it for what seemed like hours... but in reality, only a few minutes had passed. She wouldn't let them see her tears for anything... she had to be strong... she had to endure this torture like every other torture she had gone through in the past.

However, as it turned out, she didn't need to since the door flew open without warning and a beautiful girl walked in.

The student council president, Erika Sanders.

"Huh? Alan?" the brunette asked in confusion, blinking at the boys when they froze. "What are you doing in here? You just told me that you were heading to class a bit earlier to do some last-minute studying since you have a huge history test coming up... but this is my class, and on top of that, who are those guys?"

"Um... hey, Erika," Alan chuckled nervously, "yeah, these are my friends and we, uh... were..."

"Were what?" Erika asked, looking him with a blank expression; however, before he could reply, she noticed the milk-covered book sitting on the desk and her eyes widened in surprise. Erika's gaze immediately flashed to the girl lying flat on the floor and bristled in shock; she hastily whirled around and thrust her head out the door. "Alicia, I need a bit of help! Hurry and go get a teacher from the break lounge! It has to be someone who can handle a problem without going overboard!"

A startled voice wafted in from the hallway.

"Just do it!" the brunette calmly called, glancing at the boys with fierce eyes. "Three boys are beating up a girl in here!"

"What the fuck, Erika?!" Alan hissed, kicking Kate in the shoulder. "This freak is a witch! Why are you narking on us over this?!"

"Oh, you did NOT just kick her!" the brunette scoffed, rolling up her sleeves with a threatening expression. "Okay, boys, unless you want  _me_  to give you a butt-kicking, I suggest you get out of here right now!"

Alan and Erika glared at each other for a long, dangerously quiet moment.

Then...

"Let's go," Alan muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and slinking out the door past Erika. "We can mess with the bitch later..."

"What was that, Alan?!" Erika called, sticking her head out into the hall. "Are you  _asking_  me for a beating?! I kicked your ass in elementary school, and I can definitely do it again! Don't even THINK about touching her, you creep!"

 _Ow_... Kate muttered silently, slowly sitting up and rubbing her sides.  _I'm going to have a few bruises I'll need to keep an eye on._

"Hey, are you okay?" Erika asked, darting over to help her up; when she gripped her injured arm right on the elbow, the pale girl flinched in pain and smacked her hand before shakily climbing to her feet on her own. "Ow! Hey, why did you hit me? Are you all right?"

"Don't touch me," Kate muttered, breaking the stillness of the room with her voic. "I hate it here... I feel like I'm losing myself because of these people. They call me a witch and a monster, but they act more terrible than any creature I've ever heard of... they're the real monsters."

"Hey, are you okay?" Erika whispered, staring at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Shut up and leave me alone!" Katherine snapped, face twisting up with a serious urge to cry. "You're all the same! I... I hate everything here! I hate my home! I hate this school! I wish it would all just burn to the ground so Nathan and I can leave already!"

To keep herself from bursting into tears, she snatched her things and bolted from the room-thigh-length hair flying behind her like a cloud of silver fire. Erika watched her flee the room with a blank expression, not comprehending what had just happened. However, after a moment of staring at the empty doorway, she looked at her hand and twitched when she saw blood on it.

Almost immediately, her mind kicked in.

"Hey, hold on!" Erika cried, running out of the room and chasing the girl down; she finally managed to grab Kate's uninjured arm, and with a firm yank she held her back. The albino merely stood in place and refused to look at her. "Come on, don't treat me like this... I'm sorry, okay? Alan has always been a jerk, even back when he was a little kid, but I'm really not like him. Look, if you want to be left alone, that's cool... but as the student council President, I can't let an injured student go without tending to them."

"If you go away immediately afterwards... fine," Kate muttered, not meeting her eyes. "I really want to be alone right now."

Several minutes later, the pale girl was involuntarily sitting in the girl's bathroom while Erika cleaned her arm with a cotten swab.

"I don't think the bleeding was as bad as you thought," the brunette murmured, eying her scraped arm with a confused demeanor before she gently applied some gauze. "There you go... hopefully you'll be good as new by tomorrow."

"Thank you for helping me," Kate stated calmly, keeping her face blank, "but I can take it from here."

"You can stop with the act," the brunette retorted, slowly turning around and pressing her carefully dried book into her hands. "I already know it's fake... I've been watching you and your brother ever since the two of you transferred here, Kate. People are mean to you because they don't know you, and mostly because you never stand up for yourself! You never speak up or try prove them wrong! Instead of doing anything useful, you go to a new classroom after school and cry until the gates close! Girl, you need to take a stand!"

Kate's head snapped up and she stared at Erika with wide eyes, not even realizing that her mask had slipped off due to the shock coursing through her.

"Who told you about that?" the albino whispered, staring at the brunette with a stunned expression. "Who told you?!"

"Nobody told me anything," Erika irritably retorted, face pulling into a deep frown. "I have a few after-school curricular activities since I'm the Student Council Prez, remember? On top of that... my brother is the janitor, so I help him clean up the school from time to time. On your second day here, I was cleaning up Miss Kensington's classroom when you caught my attention. I swear, I've never been so shocked."

"So what?!" Katie demanded, glaring at her with angry eyes. "The rumors about me are true, so why didn't you take everyone else's side?"

"Because judging a person based on gossip is stupid, that's why," Erika retorted, looking slightly offended. "Sure, I've heard all the rumors about you from my friends, and everyone I talk to says you're creepy and dark... but the first time I ever saw you, nothing I'd heard matched what my own two eyes told me."

"What did you see?" Kate hissed. "Tell me!"

"Well, you were sitting on one of the desks by the window and reading a book," Erika stated simply, folding her arms. "Personally, I don't think you look scary at all. You're just a little different... but on the day I first saw you, I thought you were glowing. You were just that bright. I stood there for a while and watched you read, but then... all of a sudden you buried your face in your knees. It took me ten minutes to realize you were crying."

"And?" Kate demanded, amethyst eyes sharpening into frigid gemstones. "Why did you sit there and watch me cry?"

"Look, whether you realize it or not, I wanted to do something to make you stop crying," Erika retorted, looking more than a little frustrated by her hostility. "I didn't know what to do, though, especially since I didn't know you back then! I've been looking out for you and your brother ever since that day, so stop interrogating me and just... trust me a bit!"

Kate stared at her with a blank expression, but uncertainty did flit across her pale face..

For several moments, the albino merely stared at Erika with an indecisive expression. A part of her wanted to trust the girl, but another part of her didn't want to be anywhere near her: her current reputation as a witch had stemmed from a similar situation.

To her, the word 'Trust' was synonymous with 'Betrayal.'

"If you ever want to talk, here's my phone number," Erika finally sighed, handing the girl a slip of paper. "I'll be willing to listen to you, and I promise I'll stick up for you when people are being horrid, okay? We're going to get rid of all the rumors about you, I promise!"

The albino girl stood there for a long moment, opening and closing her mouth in absolute shock.

For the first time since she'd joined Ivy Ridge Academy, someone had actually said something that wasn't insulting, hostile, or extraordinarily unfriendly. She stared at the pretty brunette with a baffled expression on her face... but then she nodded and left the room with her book in hand. She wouldn't give into the urge to break down just yet: she would wait, especially since she didn't trust Erika's motives.

Even so, the rest of the day was just as horrible... so much, in fact, that when classes finally ended, the girl was almost grateful to be going home. After grabbing her things from her locker, Katie left the school and walked back to her current residence alone, since Nathan had gone home with his best friend, Seth. With good reason, too, since apparently, the Social Worker had called in and said she couldn't make it.

Toni's rages alone would be something to behold.

After making it back to the house and walking up the porch stairs, she slowly lifted her hand and gripped the doorknob, twisting it gently.

The moment she opened the front door, light poured into a pitch-black house.

Katie tiptoed through the dark hallway, trying to keep herself as silent as possible: the place smelled of beer and cigar smoke, which meant Toni was in her abusive mode again. Just as Kate was taking a cautious step around the hall corner, she accidentally stepped on a shard of broken glass and the soft crunching sound caused an avalanche of screeches to resound through the entire house.

Kate winced and wondered how the woman could have possibly heard it.

"Who the fuck is crashing around up here?" Toni shrieked, making Kate flinch. "Who broke into my house?!"

"It's just me," Kate called back, voice trembling so badly that it made her feel sick with herself. "I'm back."

It was cold inside the house, as if the sunny warmth of the afternoon had refused to enter the darkened area.

Toni's silhouette suddenly filled the doorway, blocking out the hallway light so abruptly that Katie actually let out a squeak of surprise.

The girl could see the woman's wide, bloodshot eyes even in this kind of darkness: they were two glittering green orbs full of malice and disgust. Kate froze and struggled to escape from the hatred in her foster mother's eyes, but it felt like she was drowning in darkness. It was a darkness so deep that she couldn't help but be pulled under the surface.

She could feel the hatred emanating from the woman's soul just by looking at her irises.

Kate swallowed and returned her attention to Toni, staring into those jade green pools as fear involuntarily rose up her throat.

She could never summon the courage she needed to face her foster mother.

Part of the reason was the fact that the woman had ever wanted her or her brother in the first place: the government had literally forced the Sanders twins upon her household. The woman never tried to be nice; she never acted as though she cared; she always made it clear that the twins weren't wanted and gave them the cold shoulder. That, or she got drunk and used her inebriated state to vent her frustrations.

Usually by abusing Kate.

Nathan had never been hit more than once since he was strong enough and  _angry_  enough to hit back.

He wouldn't hesitate to hurt Toni just as much as she hurt him.

When she took a heavy step forward, Kate took a tiny step back.

"I should have known," Toni sneered, soft lips curling in disgust. "Everything came crumbling down when you and your brother came into this house. Those disgusting eyes that look out of your mother's face... I grew up with your mother, you know: she lived about two miles away from here, and I actively hated her. She was better at everything, she always had a pack of tarot cards in her pocket, and she married a gorgeous man who treated her like a queen. I honestly should be thanking you."

 _Don't say it,_  Kate pleaded silently, balling her hands into fists.  _Please, Toni... don't say it again._

"After all, you were the one who killed them," the woman chuckled nastily, making the albino girl flinch. "Right, you little freak?"

Kate remained silent, hoping if she didn't speak then Toni would go away.

The woman had repeated this particular speech so many times before that the girl actually knew it by heart.

Even though it had been an accident, Kate really had killed her parents, albeit indirectly: her mother had forgotten to turn the stove off after making dinner one evening, and the house had caught fire. Nathan hadn't been home since he'd been on a sleepover, but Katherine had been quietly sleeping upstairs. Both of her parents had been killed trying to get to her.

Toni's hands were suddenly on her shoulders, forcing her against the wall.

"Are you listening to me, bitch?" she growled, looking into Kate's eyes. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"Stop it, Toni," Kate whispered, shaking her head. "Stop..."

"Don't look at me with those disgusting eyes!" Toni screeched, smacking Kate in the face. "Those aren't your mother's eyes! Those aren't the eyes of the woman I grew up with! Those are your father's eyes! Those are the eyes of a nasty demon who took my best friend away from me! I hope that bastard is burning in hell! Give her back, you murderer!"

Kate recoiled away from the woman's hand and squeezed her eyes even tighter.

She wished the woman would simply leave her alone, but her words about her eyes were true.

Kate turned away, keeping her eyes shut tight so the woman wouldn't hit her again.

A jarring impact on her cheek sent pain rocketing into her skull, but the woman shoved Kate once more and began muttering under her breath.

When Toni stormed into the living room, the small-boned albino girl let out a shuddering breath of relief and pressed a hand to her burning cheek, slowly forcing herself to walk up the stairs into her room. Judging by how the blow was both stinging and aching beneath the skin, she knew that it might be just a tad bit bruised by the next morning.

It wouldn't be bad enough for a hospital visit, though, hopefully.

Throwing her bag onto the floor, Kate turned on her light and faced the mirror with uncertainty.

Her cheek was still burning unpleasantly with the impact of her foster mother's hand, but it wasn't as bad as the other times or even the other foster families. She'd definitely had worse than this... in fact, she was inclined to say that this was the best residence so far. There had been times when the twins had been beaten and starved to the point of death. Kate was simply glad that Toni was easy with her blows.

The woman knew how easy a bruise could kill her because of her condition, so at least she tried to be gentle...

Kate sighed and took off her uniform, gently hanging it up; after putting on a baggy sweater and a simple pair of jeans, she curled up on her bed and pulled out the book Miss McKinley had given her. Aside from a large stain on the front, the content within was undamaged, for which she waswas extremely grateful. After a moment, she opened it and began to read, gently flipping through the pages.

She sat there for several hours, turning through the pages of her book, until the sun began to go down.

Even after that, she kept reading... continuously searching for an answer to her nightmares.

However, it wasn't until a flash of lightning lit up her room that she had a strange vision.

_Fire... fire that almost seemed to blink._

She shivered, then closed the book and set it on her bed. 

After a moment, she noticed the package Miss McKinley had given her and blinked, wondering what was really inside. Tilting her head, Katherine pulled it over and unwrapped it with curious eyes, but her breath caught when she found herself staring at a three-hundred dollar hair and makeup kit for... people with albinism?

"She bought me this for me with her own money?" Kate wondered aloud, looking at the contents in awe. "No way... it even has differently-toned hair extensions, a hairband, eyebrow toner, and... eyelash ink?! No way! That stuff is almost impossible to find!"

Katie stared at the kit with stunned eyes, but after a moment she sighed and smiled a little.

Slowly getting to her feet, she grabbed her old pink pajamas as well as the make-up kit and headed over to the bathroom to take a shower.

Shedding her clothes, the girl turned the water on and waited until it was warm to hop in: once she'd finished washing and conditioning her hair, Kate rinsed herself free of the soap and merely stood under the water, being extremely careful to keep it away from her gauze-covered elbow. Then she got out and wrapped a towel around her chest. Letting out a sigh, she used the blow-dryer sitting on the counter to dry her hair, being mindful to keep the setting on low so it wouldn't damage her tresses.

Then, once everything was done, she toweled herself off and pulled her pajamas on before grabbing the make-up kit.

Wiping a small circle of condensation off the mirror, she examined her bruises with a keen eye, but fortunately for her, none of them seemed to be swelling up.

Then she looked at her face.

And stared.

 _Toni's right about one thing..._ Kate thought sadly, touching her long silver hair as she looked in the mirror.  _I look almost exactly like my mom, but I have my father's eyes... sort of._

The albino girl had the same shimmering white hair, the same pearly skin, the same overly-plump lips, and the same fragile build as her mother... but unlike the woman who had given birth to her, Kate's height didn't want to extend over five feet. 

However, the biggest difference between the two of them was the shape of their eyes: her mother's eyes had been exotic and slightly upturned at the far edges, and in hue they had been a dark shade of pink. Kate's eyes were very big, round, and angled towards the ground at the edges. 

They were so light in color that they almost seemed to reflect all forms of light like mirrors.

In the darkness, they shifted back and forth in color from light pink to a silvery violet.

Shaking her head, Katherine averted her eyes and grabbed the eyelash ink, then leaned forward and began to apply it to herself. The ink by itself went for about a hundred bucks since it lasted more than two weeks if the person wearing it was careful.

It was a necessity for any albino, because it gave off just one semblance of physical normalcy that people like her and Nathan constantly missed out on. She reminded herself to share it with him after she finished applying it.

After taking the time to fan the ink dry, the girl applied it to her lower lashes as well and sighed, repeating the fanning process.

Once that was finished, she examined herself in the mirror and blinked, feeling a little relieved: now that her eyelashes were black, like everyone else's, her appearance seemed a little less strange. Then she recalled Miss McKinley's statement about her hair and pulled on a long strand of it. Pensively, she grabbed her brush and gently parted her hair down the middle, feeling a little uncomfortable about what she was planning on doing.

It only took a few minutes to get right, and by the time she was done, Katherine's hair had been tied into pigtails that she carefully draped over her shoulders.

Since her hair was so long, however, the twin-tails actually stopped just below her hips.

After a moment of staring at her reflection, the girl set the makeup kit under the sink and buttoned up the front of her pajama shirt, heading for the bathroom door.

It wasn't until after she was already in the hallway that she spotted him out of the corner of her eye.

Turning her head just as a flash of lightning lit up his silhouette, Katherine stiffened when she saw Toni's deadbeat boyfriend, AJ, standing in the center of the hallway with his hands planted on either side of him. She instantly felt her heart rise up her throat, since he only bothered with her and Nathan when he was looking for trouble. Instantly whirling around, the girl bolted for her bedroom, but he chased after her: before she could slam the door, he put his foot inside it and started reaching for her.

"Stop!" Kate cried, face screwing up with fright when he gripped the front of her shirt. "Let go of me!"

"Shut up!" he snarled, jerking on the front of her shirt. "I heard you got in trouble today, so Toni definitely won't care if I have a bit of fun."

When the first three buttons popped off her shirt, her eyes widened and she did the unthinkable.

She fought back.

Lunging at him with an angry shriek, she clawed his face and attempted to slam the door, but he merely kicked it open and violently shoved her to the ground. Hulking above her, he glared down in rage with bloodshot eyes.

"You ever try something like that again," he hissed, bending down and clutching her shirt. "I'll kill you, bitch."

With that, he slapped her in the face and walked out, leaving behind a shivering girl who merely curled up into a little ball and held herself.

Kate closed her eyes and fought back tears: she wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, before her mother and father had died... before Emily had died, too... but time and fate were cruel realities, and she was all alone in a hostile world. She had given up hope on being loved by other people long ago... she had given up on a future where life could possibly be happy... she had turned her back on the conniving faces of humanity, for they had done nothing but hurt her. She had promised herself not to trust anyone, ever again.

Because, after all... who could ever love a freak?

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Three: Wakeful Premonition**

_There was no darkness this time... there wasn't a cellar with the scent of blood... there wasn't even an abyss full of stars.  
_

_However, compared to where she was right now, any of those would have been more preferable._

_Katherine was somehow standing frozen with terror on top of an enormous tower, a structure that had been built so high that it could have put both of the fallen World Trade Centers to shame: below her was a chasm of nearly six thousand stories worth of empty air, and above her was a sky that was frothing with volcanic ash. The wind was tearing at her old nightgown, and her long hair was flying in every direction. She couldn't move... if she moved, the burning eye that was flicking around in the distance would see her._

_It would find her again._

_"Somebody..." Kate whimpered, fighting to keep its evil heat off of her by remaining still. "Help me..."_

_The moment she said it, a flash of light seared into her retinas and a two-tailed comet sailed overhead._

_The comet was white and red, but she could sense that it was emanating an ancient evil._

_However, at the same time... it was flickering with such dark brilliance that she had trouble tearing her eyes away from it. Blazing through the dark sky and shredding the volcanic clouds as it passed, the two-tailed comet launched itself straight for a distant moon that looked way larger than the one she was used to seeing. In a fiery radiance, it slammed into the surface… but shockingly, there was no sound: nothing but silence followed the impact and not even a single stone on the moon's surface budged._

_It was as if the comet itself were passing through the moon the way light passes through glass._

_Kate tried to reach out and touch the ghostly flames licking from the comet's tail, but the moment she moved, the eye flicked in her direction and her silver hair started billowing around much more slowly. Actually, everything moved more slowly... even the chilling wind, which had somehow become scorching hot. Katie stood there with horrified eyes, watching as the ball of fire seemed to loom closer: it was as if the tower she was standing on had started zooming in on it.  
_

_"NO!" Kate screeched, lifting her hand and slowly whirling around; every step from her bare feet seemed to take an eternity, and she started crying as she ran across the tower. "HELP! SOMEONE, HELP ME!"_

_However, there wasn't a way to get off the structure: she was trapped at the top of it._

_When she collapsed to her knees, a glowing red mark began to snake around her torso from her back, trickling over her pearly skin like blood. The red made its way down her arms and wrists, then around her throat, burning as it went. The girl didn't notice how much danger she was in until she looked down at herself: the eye's gaze had latched onto a spot between her ribs, where a black sword had been buried in her flesh. The redness swirled into the gashes on her arms, neck, and collarbone._

_Then her skin began to peel and the pink flesh underneath became hot._

_"OOWWWW! HELP ME!" Kate cried, lifting her arms to the stars above for assistance. "PLEASE! SOMEONE!"  
_

_No one would come to save her, though... and she realized with horror that she was completely alone: all of these pale and unforgiving stars didn't care about her existence. The girl's vision tunneled as the red glow leaked into her eyes, blurring her sight into colors that resembled a shimmering gasoline rainbow. Swirling round and round in that pool of pain was a screaming girl who would die completely alone… alone, in pain, and all but forgotten by the world. Just like her sister, Emily... just like her parents._

_"Help…" she whimpered, closing her eyes as her ears filled with a rushing noise. "Someone, please! Help me!"_

_"Who would want to help you?" her brother whispered, appearing beside her with a flash. "Isn't it your fault that our sister died? Isn't it your fault that our parents burned to their deaths? Everyone's always saving you, Kate, but when someone calls for help, you cower like a little rabbit. You've caused the death of everyone I've ever loved, so why would anybody come to save you? You're a coward… and that's why you'll die alone. And nobody will care."_

_"STOP IT!" the girl wailed, choking as the red started pouring down her throat. "NATHAN, HELP ME!"  
_

_Suddenly, a screeching buzz echoed within her head, blurring the image of her brother's sneer._

_She desperately struggled to breathe, stretching out her hand to his laughing silhouette as her vision began to disintegrate._

"—anders?" a voice called.

_"Nate, please!" Kate wailed, letting out a cry when her world faded and the buzzing took over her senses. "Help me!"  
_

"Miss Sanders, wake up!" somebody angrily shouted, snapping the small girl out of her nightmare. Kate's head instantly snapped up and she tensed, violet eyes glittering as she faced her teacher's glare. "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you that there is no sleeping in my class?"

"I'm sorry... I finished the work you handed out, so I wanted to rest my eyes for a bit," the albino stoically retorted, rubbing her eyes as the rest and sighing when her classmates started sniggering. "I never meant to fall asleep."

"Regardless of your  _intentions,_  you cannot sleep in class!" Mrs. Kingsford rapped out, catching her attention. "Are we clear?"

"Of course I am," Kate murmured, wishing she could use her bangs to hide her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Very well," Mrs. Kingsford sighed, straightening up and pointing to the board imperiously. "Still, since you've finished the work I handed out, I'm guessing you can tell the class the answer to my question. After all, if you actually did the work, you  _should_  know the answer to it."

The girl's half-lidded eyes darted over the problem; then, after flipping through her notebook, Katherine found her finished work and quickly read the answer.

She shot a quick glance at the teacher after she was done, but the woman appeared far from satisfied.

Mrs. Kingsford glared at her for a long moment, almost as if she thought the girl had copied the work from someone else. Then she swept away, rapping her ruler on tables to wake students up. Kate instantly sank into her chair with a soft sigh of relief: she hated being the center of attention, and personally, her teacher was acting a little ridiculous since she was practically the only person in class who really ever bothered to do the homework. Luckily, there were only ten more minutes until the end of the period.

When the bell finally rang, the whole class erupted into a flurry of action.

Kate allowed herself to be pulled along by the stream of students to the cafeteria, listening to the swirl of gossip and the loud teasing with a dazed expression. Ever since the day the newspaper article about the man she'd saved had spread, Katherine had been having more problems than ever before: people had been so mean that she'd actually considered running away and leaving it all behind.

Plus, she was still feeling totally off center since the nightmares were making it impossible for her to sleep normally, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that something horrible was going to happen soon.

She didn't know why, of course, but the feeling in her gut was still growing stronger.

When somebody unexpectedly elbowed her in the side and smashed her against a locker, she let out a wheeze of pain that was lost in the chatter.

Kate squeezed her violet eyes shut as pain rocketed throughout her already-bruised sides, but when the pain had faded enough for her to stand upright, the albino girl continued on her way.

After she made it to the cafeteria, she quickly joined the line and grabbed nothing but a carton of juice since she was eager to remove herself from the jostling crowd. She found it exceedingly intimidating to be surrounded by so many people: crowds had always made her uncomfortable because of how much she stood out thanks to her looks.

Kate hastily headed for the doors, but the bane of her existence managed to stop her before she got there.

"Look who it is!" Alan sneered, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around. "The Little Witch decided to join us for lunch! And look here! It seems she decided to go for a new look!"

"How'd she make her eyelashes dark like that?" Salem wondered, quirking an eyebrow as he examined her face. "And seriously, what the hell is up with her hair? Pigtails? Really? I haven't seen those on a girl since kindergarten!"

Kate scowled before she could stop herself, but she quickly masked her irritation.

Truth be told, she had gotten up earlier than usual just to try putting on just a little bit of make-up and switching up her hairstyle. She had even tied her favorite black ribbon onto the hairband that Miss McKinley had given her, but since it had been nearly impossible to do anything with her Asian-style square-cut bangs, she'd simply used the hairpiece to pin them back and out of sight. The extensions had come in handy for the false side-bangs she was sporting. The librarian had been over the moon when she'd walked in that morning all dolled up for once.

In fact, she was probably still grinning, even now.

However, that alone was why the teasing irritated her for once.

"Um, can I help you?" Kate asked in a stoic voice, struggling to keep her grumpy emotions hidden. "I'd really like to use the door."

"Actually, for once, you really can!" Alan snorted with a grin, smashing his hand against the wall beside her head and leaning close to her face. "We heard something really interesting yesterday. Is it true that your brother is dating Erika Montgomery?"

Kate stared at him for a full ten seconds, not comprehending the question.

"What did you just say?" Kate asked, blinking in shock for several moments. "Did you just ask me if Nathaniel is dating the Student Council President?"

"Well, obviously, since someone saw the two of them making out yesterday," Salem scoffed, sneering at her in disgust. "Sheesh, I guess even your own brother must hate you if he won't even tell you about the girls he's fooled around with.

"I just never thought Erika would be one of them," Mitchell groused. "Who would have thought she'd kiss such a nasty freak?"

Kate flinched and looked down at the ground, violet eyes going blank in disbelief: she swallowed as the events from the previous week came back to her.

She'd definitely seen her brother holding hands with a brunette, and Erika  _was_  the only girl in their school who had waist-length brown hair… but did that really mean the two of them were dating each other?

It was pretty unbelievable... but then again, so was the fact that Nate had smiled.

"You're... mistaken," Kate stated in an emotionless drawl, struggling to retain her composure when she realized that everybody around them was listening: Erika was one of the most well-liked girls in the entire school, so someone as 'lowly' as her brother could definitely not have been dating her. "I don't really know who Nathaniel likes, and he's never told me if he has a girlfriend... but he definitely wouldn't fool around with more than one person, if with anybody at all. He's not that kind of guy, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making assumptions about him."

"Erika wouldn't even touch an ugly freak like your brother, let alone kiss him!" Mitchell scoffed, blocking her path when she turned to walk away. "He probably forced himself on her! You'd better tell your bro to stay away from Erika, otherwise we might hurt him."

"Wow! Please, I implore you, go ahead and try it!" Kate snorted, startling everyone by letting out a genuine laugh. "You'll end up losing a few teeth, though, because my brother is the complete opposite of me when it comes to dealing with people. Unlike me, he  _will not_ hesitate to hurt you! I honestly wouldn't recommend trying to puff your chest out in front of him, since the last person who tried to do something  _that_  stupid ended up in the hospital with a busted ribcage and a fractured jaw."

When Alan's mouth fell open in surprise, Kate gave him a coy salute and tried to walk around Mitchell.

However, she had only taken two steps when the boy suddenly shoved her and she went stumbling; just when she thought she would crash face-first into the door, it opened wide and she smacked into a muscular body instead. The collision knocked her flat on her backside, and she rubbed her aching nose before glancing up at the person she'd crashed into. As her eyes traveled up from his waist, she became progressively alarmed until she found herself staring at the face of a lion-like boy.

However, she twitched when she realized she was looking at the student who'd recently started attending her class.

Daniel Montgomery was the last person Kate wanted to bump into like this, especially after everything she'd heard about him through the rumor vine; he was famous all over New York City for bludgeoning a teacher half to death. It had been all over the news a few years ago, and he'd even been put through a trial as a result, but he had been declared completely innocent once it had become known that Daniel's teacher had attempted to rape his crippled mother when she'd gone to the bathroom during a parent teacher conference. However, when she looked up, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock.

It was the first time she'd seen him clearly, because his hood was down and his face was completely illuminated.

The first thing she'd noticed about him was his incredible size... the top of her head only came up to the beginnings of his lower chest. The next thing she saw were his eyes: they were a startling shade of green, but incredibly unique and unlike anything she'd ever seen before. His chiseled face was hard, his slanted eyes were narrowed, his square jaw was clenched, and his shoulder-length black hair was more of a wild mane than anything else. Kate also noticed that there were hardly any places on his face that hadn't been skewered by a piercing: from the cartilage in his ears to the bone on his chin, silver and gold gleamed on his face like a macabre version of connect-the-dots... there were even two rows of piercings above his eyebrows.

He looked like a gigantic Indian with an odd biker fetish.

The girl's eyes slid down to her juice, which he was holding between three of his fingers.

He could probably wrap both of his hands around her waist and have a ton of finger room left over.

"Daniel," Mitchell stuttered, face going extremely pale. "Hey, man, what's up?"

The dark-skinned youth stepped back and watched as the albino girl shakily stood up, straightening her blazer and dusting her knee-length skirt off.

"What's going on here?" Daniel demanded in a low voice, lifting his hand in an attempt to dust off Kate's shoulder; the girl immediately flinched away from his arm and turned her face to the side out of instinct. The giant's green eyes narrowed in suspicion when he noticed that she was shivering violently. "Okay… I really don't like what I'm seeing. What's going on?"

Alan and his friends stumbled over their words as they tried to come up with a good explanation.

"Well, I dunno if you heard the rumors since you're new and all, but this weird-looking chick is a witch! No joke!" Alan finally spluttered, folding his arms in a nervous manner. "Even the news knows it! Since she sees the future, she can put curses on people that change their lives for the worse! On top of that, her brother forced himself on my friend, Erika... we thought we should send him a message, that's all it was!"

Kate twitched and gawked at them with huge eyes.

"That's not true at all!" the girl squeaked, flailing her arms with a frantic expression. "I-I'm not a witch, and Nate isn't that kind of guy! And just because some whacko said I accidentally saved him from getting flattened by a bus, it doesn't mean I'm a witch! Stop lying and leave me alone already!"

Daniel merely looked at her with an impassive expression that made her entire body prickle.

He could honestly send her flying with one punch if he chose to do so: he was that big compared to her... but for some reason, she was more terrified by the look in his eyes than his fists at the moment. He was staring at her with an intense mixture of curiosity, suspicion, and annoyance... but the weirdest part was that he wasn't sneering at her, and she had a weird feeling that he was on her side rather than theirs.

"I'm betting your 'friend' doesn't need someone like you to fight her battles," Daniel finally grunted, glancing at Alan with a slight glare. "You handled the situation wrong in two ways. First of all, you went for the guy's sister even though she obviously had no role in whatever transpired between her brother and your friend. Second of all, if this Erika girl was so upset about the pipsqueak's bro lip-locking with her, why the hell is she sitting on his lap and kissing him out in the hallway? He's the only male albino in school, and she's the student council President, right? If that's the case, I'd say  _she's_  forcing herself on  _him_!"

"Huh?!" Kate choked, eyes widening in total shock. "Nate is doing what?!"

"He's snogging the class Pres," the giant retorted, cocking an eyebrow when her knees buckled and she sank to the ground. "Like, right now."

"This is unbelievable," Alan hissed, clenching his fists in rage. "I can't believe that bitch... now it all makes sense."

"Shut up and scat," Daniel growled, emerald eyes flashing. "You're pissing me off."

The boys obeyed in an instant, backing away from the cafeteria doors and heading to their regular table the second he gave the command. When the boy turned his glare on Kate, the small girl flinched and looked at the ground with both of her shoulders hunched and her knees shaking violently. She jumped when he unexpectedly bent over and held out a huge hand: for several moments, she merely stared at it.

"It's just a hand," he muttered, lips twisting in annoyance as he stared at her. "Take it already."

"Uh... thanks," Kate whispered, purposely avoiding looking at his face. "You really shouldn't come anywhere me, though... people will start to avoid you like the plague."

Daniel snorted and stared at her with furrowed brows.

"I do what I want, regardless," the giant muttered, flipping his hood up and lumbering off without another word. "Catch ya later."

When he shoved his enormous hands deep in his pockets and made for the area where food was being handed out, Kate's heart fluttered and her cheeks felt warm for no reason whatsoever. When her ears began to burn, she turned and bolted out of the cafeteria. A quick glance up and down the hallway confirmed that she was alone, which made her sigh in relief: she was lucky that the boys were probably still trying to confront her brother since she seriously needed to be alone.

Feeling edgy, Kate quietly began to tiptoe toward the hall that led to her next class.

However, the albino came to a stop when she rounded the corner and came face to face with an unfamiliar hallway.

Her eyes slowly widened and her entire body froze: this didn't even look like it was a part of her school.

All of the light bulbs in the ceiling were broken and the rest were flickering weakly: it looked as though the hall had been completely destroyed.

Or rather... as though some sort of bomb had gone off.

"W-what the hell happened here?" Kate whispered, staring at the decimated hallway in shock. "Oh, my God... M-Miss McKinley! Help! Someone!"

Her voice couldn't even rise above a squeak: all of the windows in the corridor had been blown in somehow, and all of the glass resting on the classroom entrances were either cracked or broken. Doors were lying ajar or completely unhinged all over the place; huge holes lined the ceiling and dotted the stretch of the floor, and enormous piles of debris had coated the ground in several places. There were even a few chunks of concrete lying in various areas.

Just beyond the hall, however, nine hooded figures slowly came into view and the girl froze with a startled gasp: they slowly glided across the ground and moved towards her in slow motion, tattered black robes flowing weightlessly around their shadowed forms. They looked like messengers of death, or rather, like those freakish monsters from the Harry Potter preview she'd seen the other day. What were they called... dementors?

But dementors weren't real, and neither was Harry Potter, so what the hell  _were_  those things?!

The pale girl twitched when the hallway and the figures started rippling like a mirage. The next time she blinked, the hallway had unexpectedly fixed itself and returned to normal with no warning whatsoever. The girl's violet eyes widened even further and she frantically rubbed them before staring at the now-inviting classroom doors in disbelief.

The hooded figures were gone.

 _No... it can't be,_  Kate silently told herself, heart speeding up with fear.  _Nothing bad could happen at school, right?_

She didn't know... nor did she want to.

But one thing was for certain: something terrible was going to happen soon, and she had no doubt that it was going to happen to her.

Frantically trying to pretend that she hadn't seen what she'd seen, the small girl whirled around and bolted towards her classroom. She skidded around a corner and sprinted past a few lingering students, but when she finally made it to her own hallway, the girl slid to a stop and her eyes went wide. Alan and his cronies were standing in front of the door, obviously waiting for her to come running for the classroom. It was so predictable that she should have been expecting it: she was rarely late since she hated being scolded by the teacher. Mr. Kenton loved every opportunity he got to jump down her throat, and being late was his only chance since she was extremely careful about it.

"There she is!" Salem cried, spotting her and pointing down the hall. "She's right there!"

"What is it this time?! Just leave me alone!" Kate wailed, whipping around and bolting in the opposite direction. "God, stop chasing me already! Go away!"

However, she still heard shouts behind her, and a hasty glance over her shoulder awarded the girl with the sight of three boys frantically chasing after her. Cruel grins spread across their faces and they let out wild catcalls when she squealed in alarm: she didn't know where the sound had come from, but being chased had caused the shriek to erupt from her mouth. Kate flew towards the end of the hall as students who were waiting for the third bell to ring poked their heads out of the classroom doors.

Several laughs accompanied her passing, for they all knew that this was a fairly uncommon sight.

As she was darting around the corner, Kate slipped on the freshly-mopped floor and went sliding into the wall. Once she'd gotten her senses back, the girl hastily shook herself off and scrabbled to her feet, ducking under a textbook as she went. When she caught sight of the principle's office, the girl began to sprint as fast as she could go.

However, when Alan ran around the corner with huge history book in his hands, her heart skipped a beat.

 _I'm going too fast to stop!_  Kate mentally wailed, covering her head; she let out a yelp when the textbook collided with her right cheek, losing her balance only a second before she smacked into the bully's chest. The two of them went sliding across the tiles before smacking into the lockers: when Kate attempted to get back up, however, Alan rolled on top of her and pinned her down by straddling her waist. When she tried to hit him, he gripped her wrists and pinned them down as well.

"Got you," he sneered, panting and grinning at her. "Now, what should I do with you? I didn't think that far ahead."

"G-g-g-get off me..." Kate stuttered, face contorting as she struggled to lift her arms. "Ow! Get off! Go away!"

"Nah, I'm too comfortable sitting right here," Alan groaned, closing his eyes and trying to catch his breath; several students started laughing hysterically when he made a mockery of being out of breath and using her as a chair. "Sheesh... your belly is really soft! You'd make a nice chair, Silverlocks! I should do this more often!"

"Ow! Stop it! You're hurting me!" Kate snapped, squeezing her eyes shut as the bones in her ribcage popped. "Ow! Ow! G-get off me, please! You're—OUCH!—too heavy!"

"Get off my sister right now," a cold voice stated, making everybody freeze like a marble statue; Alan's expression twitched and he looked more than a little spooked. "What would you have said if a teacher had caught you doing this instead of me? With the right explanation, Kate could get you charged with attempted rape and have you expelled."

"Oh, shit," Alan muttered, looking up at Nathan in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," the albino boy retorted, shooting his twin sister a glare that made her wince, "so don't provoke her like this."

Kate didn't return her brother's gaze when he walked away without another word: in the end, he was more worried about the boy who was hurting her.

When the third bell finally rang, everybody fled into their classrooms and Alan got of off her stomach with a snicker before swaggering away with his pals. Kate sat up and clutched her bruising wrists, face burning with mortification: she wanted to cry, but she was too proud. Slowly getting to her feet, the girl grabbed her fallen backpack and made her way into class. She didn't notice that a girl with long brown hair was watching her from a distant hallway corner. Nor did she notice that the sky outside was slowly darkening with clouds that seemed to suck the light right out of the air...

Clouds that seemed to be more than just the premiss of a storm.

Katherine Sanders didn't even know that the day she'd been fearing for so long had finally arrived.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Four: Darkness Begins to Fall**

_The nightmare was different this time._

_There was no moldy abyss... there was no water falling into a puddle... there was no coppery scent filling the air... there was only an endless black space that stretched on forever in front of her. Unable to witness what was in front of her—and not knowing what her next step would bring… yes, normally it would have been frightening, but somehow it was different. This time... she found the darkness to be almost... comforting. A dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel and her gaze lifted in time to see nine silhouettes appear._

_Why was the light there?_

_Who was standing in it?_

_One step after another, Katherine began walking towards the silhouettes. It all felt so familiar, almost as though she'd done this a million times before. Maybe she had, but if so, she couldn't remember. Step by step, she drew closer to the nine shadows—shadows which soon became the outlines of several different people of varying size. After a few more steps, she blinked since the group of teenage boys and men were facing away from her. However, one of them in particular caught her attention. As Kate drew closer, this man's striking details became clearer: he had long blonde hair… and it had a shiny, almost metallic sheen to it._

_She didn't know why, but the sight of this man frightened her._

_"Who... are you?" Katherine called, looking at the beings in front of her. "Who are you?!"_

_The blonde turned his head slightly at the sound of her voice, but Kate twitched when she spotted his ear: it was sharp... and long._

_"Tauriel?" he asked, speaking in a distorted voice that she couldn't quite make out._

_"Is something wrong?" a dark-haired silhouette with broad shoulders asked; once again, she couldn't quite identify the tone. "Are you all right, L-?"_

_Kate twisted her head when the name distorted and seemed to vanish after the first syllable._

_"No, A-" the blonde man stated in an almost weary tone. "T'was but an illusion of the mind."_

_The albino girl lifted a hand and opened her mouth to shout at them again, but she didn't have a chance._

_Before she could blink, she was suddenly standing on a beach._

_Whipping around with a gasp, she was startled to realize that the figures were gone: in the blonde man's place was her twin brother. Nathaniel was facing the ocean, wearing his school uniform and seeming to be at ease for the first time in a while. All around them, the beautiful scenery of a white-sands island was prominent... even the water was beautiful._

_It was such a clear tropical blue that Kate felt her breath being taken away._

_"Nathan!" she called, waving her hand with large eyes. "Nathan, where are we?! This is amazing!"_

_She paused when her brother mimicked the blonde man's movements and slightly turned his head, almost as if he were trying to hear something._

_But unlike the blonde, he actually turned around completely and looked directly at her: then, with a soft smile, he held out his hand._

_Kate's heart flew up her throat and time froze._

_Her brother... he was smiling at her and holding out his hand._

_Feeling her eyes shining with tears, the girl let out a sob and took a single step forward, planning on tackling him to the ground in a bear hug... but then she noticed the water and glanced down, smile fading into a confused frown. The tide was going out at a rapid pace... and when she glanced up, she saw an enormous wave gathering in the distance behind her brother. Eyes widening, the girl opened her mouth to scream her brother's name, but nothing came out. Then she was running at top speed with her own hand held out, long hair flying and school skirt billowing as her feet kicked up the sand._

_Just before she grabbed him, the world disappeared and she fell through the air before landing in a dark place devoid of light._

_In front of her stood a girl who was crying with shaking shoulders._

_There was a sharp object dangling from the girl's hand... an object that was coated in dark liquid. The fluid was dripping from the tip into a puddle beside her shoes, and beyond the girl's form was a giant mound of some sort: Kate couldn't make out what it was... but it positively reeked of blood_

_"Who's there?!" Kate called, looking at the girl's white hair with large violet eyes. "Who are you?!"_

_When the distant girl finally turned around and their gazes met, a pair of glowing neon yellow eyes met her pale pink ones._

_The person standing in front of her was completely identical to Kate, aside from the frightening eye color._

_Katherine's doppelganger dropped the object and lifted her small hands with shaking muscles, staring at her face with a blank expression. She started walking, one step after the other, towards the real Kate with shaking muscles: the albino stood frozen until her doppelganger touched her arm… but when the crying, glowing-eyed version of her was sucked inside her body without even a sound to mark her vanishing, a vision overtook her mind. She saw herself splitting an enormous screeching monstrosity in half with a silver sword._

_"You are whole, Daughter of Ainur…" a familiar voice whispered. "Take up arms and fight..."_

"NO!" Kate gasped, head instantly flying off her desk. "No! Leave me alone! I won't!"

The girl's outburst caused everybody in her class to jump and stare at her in confusion, but she wasn't aware of that: the girl was too busy trying to catch her breath to notice all the odd looks. Ever since her encounter with Daniel at lunch, the feeling of danger had grown to the point of crushing her stomach into a little ball. That's how she knew things were going to happen: her stomach would either tighten up or feel loose and airy depending on whether the situation was a good one or a bad one.

"Miss Sanders," Mr. Ross stated calmly, walking over to her desk, "is there a reason you're disturbing my class?"

"The bird," Kate whispered, shaking her head to wake herself up. "It's coming… the... the black wings are…"

"Er, you must have fallen asleep and started dreaming," the man sighed in dismay. "Try to stay awake in class, okay?"

"Huh?" Kate asked, looking up with dazed eyes when the snickers that rose up around her. "Oh... class... um, yes, sir, I'll do my best... I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Mr. Ross soothed, patting her head. "I know how rough your living situation is thanks to a certain Miss McKinley, so I'll let this one slide."

However, when the man went back to teaching his class, Kate dragged her backpack open and rummaged around for the book she'd been given.

"What are doing, weirdo?" Tiffany sneered, watching her with observant blue eyes. "You're acting even crazier than usual."

"Shut up, Tiffany," Kate stated seriously, not even paying attention to how the blonde girl stiffened; after a moment, a flash of lightning caught her attention and she glanced out the window to see that it had turned an odd shade of greenish gray. "Something's not right..."

"Uh, duh," the girl snapped, scowling at her with an angry expression. "I'd have to say it's probably you! Creep!"

Kate didn't respond and merely stared out the window with a confused expression: the clouds were flickering like an old movie... and even as she watched, they seemed to grow even darker somehow. After a moment of examining the frothing clouds, the girl flipped the book open and started scanning the pages; she'd been putting it off ever since she'd gotten it because she was scared of the truth. However, she couldn't wait any longer: the feeling of danger had become almost unbearable.

She spent an entire ten minutes skimming through sketches of odd-looking monsters and creatures that seemed rather disgusting, but just when she figured there might not actually be a connection between the book and her nightmares, she came to a page that held a drawn image of nine hooded figures holding crooked black swords.

Kate's eyes widened and her body jolted with the shock that went through her, catching Tiffany's attention: the blonde stared at her with a lifted brow.

"Something wrong, witch girl?" Madison sarcastically asked, batting her lashes with mock concern. "What is it?"

Kate ignored her and leaned forward, examining the names of the monsters that had been sketched onto the pages.

"Nazgul?" the albino wondered after a moment, lifting her head and blinking in confusion. "What's a Nazgul?"

"How the hell should we know?" Brittany asked, planting her chin on her hands and letting out a sigh. "Seriously, shut up, freak. Nobody wants to hear you talk."

Tiffany's blue eyes flicked to stare at the page, but her nose wrinkled in disgust when she saw the sketch.

Daniel, however, surprised them by lifting his head with a skeptical expression.

"I didn't think you'd be a Lord of the Rings fan," he grunted, staring at the white-haired girl in confusion; Kate instantly whirled around. "You said Nazgul, right...? That's what those evil hooded things that stabbed Frodo in the first movie were called... right?"

"I wouldn't know, since I've never seen the movies," Kate stated seriously, gazing at him with unblinking eyes. "What are they about?"

"Well, I've only seen the first one, so I can't tell ya everything," Daniel sighed, putting his head down again, "but from what I remember, it's about a group of different people who band together in an effort to destroy an evil ring that this badass eye-monster wants. I think its name is Saurent or something."

Kate's eyes slowly widened and she whirled around with a terrified expression, not believing what she'd just heard.

"T-that movie wasn't based on a true story, r-right?" Kate squeaked, voice coming out so shaken that everyone stared at her. "It wasn't real, right?!"

"Did you just ask if Lord of the Rings was based on a true story?" Daniel snorted, lifting his head again and looking at her with an unamused expression. "Sorry, but are you joking? Or are you seriously that stupid?"

"Well, excuse me for not knowing anything about a movie I've never seen," Kate huffed, waving him off. "Sheesh, you didn't have to be so rude."

She didn't even notice the usual snickers and whispers that erupted: she read until the bell rang, then put her book away and stared out the window, wondering about the odd-looking sky. 

Still, when everybody started gathering their things, Kate was going to do so as well, but for the very first time in her memory... she was actually called out by Mr. Ross when he walked back into the room. Everyone in the room was surprised, as well, since she normally never got in trouble during last hour.

"Kate, I'd like you to wait right here," Mr. Ross called after he walked into the room, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Whatever you do, don't leave school grounds: supposedly, there's an incident taking place outside right now concerning your privacy."

"Huh?" the albino girl stammered, staring at the desk with an expression of startled dismay: everyone who'd been on their way out remained in the hallway with expressions of curiosity and excitement. She knew that whatever was about to go down would most likely be spread around the school if it was interesting… and that seriously made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn't want anymore attention. "This is perfect. Geez."

After a few moments of staring at her desk, Erika walked over and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, Katie?" the brunette asked, shouldering her bag. "Do you mind if I take a seat by you? I'm waiting for someone to pick me up today."

"Sure," Kate mumbled inaudibly, shaking her head when the girl sat down beside her; after a few moments of silence, the albino looked out the window… but soon after she did so, she felt another poke coming from behind. "Er, class is over, you know..."

"Oi, you could at least look at me when you're responding," Daniel grunted, sounding a little irritable; when Kate slowly turned around, she found herself staring straight into a set of fierce green eyes. Her pale cheeks instantly felt warm and her stomach flipped in an unfamiliar manner, so she swallowed to hide her unease and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Why do you let everyone bully you? I haven't seen you do a single thing to stop them, let alone speak up about it."

"I tried to make them stop harassing me in the beginning," Kate calmly explained, turning back around, "but I quit after I ended up in the emergency room over it a few months ago. Most of the guys in this school are a lot stronger than me, and I'm dangerously frail… catch my drift?"

For several moments, there was nothing but silence… then a scrape met her ears and she glanced over her shoulder to see Daniel heading for the doors with a rigid posture. Several students parted and let him through, but since he didn't look back, Kate folded her hands and let out a sigh.

For several unpleasant moments, she waited for Mr. Ross to come back with an unhappy expression. A flash of lightning illuminated the classroom windows as she sat there, making her feel even more grim than usual.

"You know?" Erika stated softly, making Kate wince. "I wanted to tell you something, officially, but... now I'm not sure if it's the right time."

"Just say whatever you need to and be done with it," Kate sighed, staring at her small white hands. "Please."

"Well, okay," the brunette sighed, looking at her with solemn blue eyes. "I'm in love with your twin brother, Nathaniel."

Another flash of lightning lit up the windows, but this one lasted longer than it should have.

In fact... it didn't even seem like lightning at all: Kate's eyes had gone blank because something within her, something terrifying, was being dissolved.

The dread... no, more accurately, the feeling of danger that had balled up in her stomach.

It was being let loose.

That's when she knew something terrible was about to happen... and somehow, she had a feeling that Erika's seemingly harmless statement had triggered it.

Kate stiffened when she felt a draft of air tickling the back of her neck and a presence entered her awareness. Several loose strands of hair drifted in front of her face as she sat there, staring at the chalkboard with enormous pink eyes. Erika was still talking, but she could no longer hear it: a ringing silence had filled her mind, blotting out everything around her. She felt, rather than heard, the breath of air that the person behind her took.

_I don't want to see…_  Katherine whispered silently, heart speeding up and pounding against her chest; the world around her faded out and tilted slightly as the ringing noise filled her ears, making her see black and red spots.  _I don't want to see whoever is behind m_ e…

Unfortunately, she felt as though dark and shadowy hands were reaching out to grab her from behind, so she steeled herself and turned around. The girl's amethyst eyes widened in shock as she beheld a man with waist-length platinum blonde hair: his skin was almost as pale as her own, and his eyes were the color of liquid silver. He was wearing a red and black outfit that seemed distinctly odd, and from what she could see, he was also abnormally tall. The girl felt her heart skip a beat: she didn't want to have anything to do with him.

She knew something terrible would happen if he came anywhere near her.

"W-who are you?" Kate abruptly demanded, catching the attention of several students. "How'd you get in here?"

"Huh?" Erika asked, staring at her in confusion before looking at the man as well; she instantly jumped and her eyes widened. "Whoa! When did he get here?"

"I've finally found you... I have been searching for you for a long time," the man replied in a blank tone; when he started moving towards her, Kate jumped out of her seat and whirled slightly so she was facing him. "Now that I've found you, the time has arrived for you to return."

"W-what...?" Kate stammered, staring at him with a blank expression. "Excuse me for being blunt, but what the hell are you  _talking_  about?"

"You must come with me," he stated, continuing to move towards her. "I will explain later."

" _Hell_ no!" Kate shouted, shaking her head in alarm. "I'm not going anywhere with a guy I don't know, so get back!"

_"The Nazgul have a arrived,"_  a disembodied voice whispered, making the girl jump.  _"They are approaching."_

"What the hell was that?!" Kate squeaked, looking around in fright. "Who just said that?!"

"We were followed here," the blonde man stated simply, refusing to lower his eyes. "Come with me."

"Seriously, what's going on?!" Kate stammered, glancing at the students who were still in the room; however, when she realized that Tiffany, Alexa, Madison, and Brittany were still present and ogling at the scene in front of them, she let out a sigh of intense relief. "Okay, look… I know you girls don't like me, but  _this_  is going too far. Could you make this guy go away now? He's really scaring me, okay?! You win! I'm scared!"

"Uh, excuse me?" Tiffany drawled, cocking her hip with an offended expression.  _"We_  don't know this guy. What's his deal?"

"How the heck should  _I_  know!" Kate snapped, clenching her fists. "I've never even seen him before!"

"This is weird," Erika stated seriously, getting to her feet and backing away with wary eyes. "How the heck did he get in here without anyone noticing?"

"Good question," Brittany sighed, tapping her chin. "We've been by the door, so one of us should have seen him."

Kate's eyes widened in alarm when he took another step forward; she immediately moved back, mouth trembling as she kept her distance.

"Hey, s-stop it!" she squeaked, lifting her hands. "Seriously, go away!"

"We must not delay any longer," the blonde man droned, moving forward and snatching her slender wrist; Kate squealed loudly and locked up in fright, causing several of the students standing in the doorway to jump. The girl's pupils contracted into pinpricks when she realized that the man's skin was colder than ice. "It is not safe here... you must come with me: we cannot waste time."

"Let go! Let go of me!" Kate shrieked, struggling to get out of his grasp. "Someone, help! Go get a teacher!  _Ow!_ That  _hurts!_  Let me  _go!"_

"There's no time to explain," the blonde man urged, jerking her forward with cold silver eyes. "You  _will_  come with me."

"NOOOOOOO! GET OFF, YOU CREEP!" Kate screeched, jerking her hand out of his grasp with all of her strength and stumbling away from him; she ended up tripping over a chair and smacked into the wall, but she somehow managed to stay on her feet. "S-stay back! Don't come near me again!"

"K-Katherine, hey... um, what's going on?" Erika asked, watching as the man approached the cowering albino girl. "Is this honestly for real?! I mean... do you need us to go get a teacher?! I can't tell if this is serious!"

"It's serious! It's  _dead_  serious! Hurry up and go get Mr. Ross!" Katie wailed, shakily picking up a math textbook and throwing it at the blonde man with a terrified expression; when he merely ducked and continued moving forward, the frail girl backed into the corner and pressed herself against the wall. She frantically scrabbled for the nearest object and happened upon a chalkboard eraser, which she threw with all of her strength; when he tilted his head and dodged it with no change in expression, her knees started shaking and she felt like passing out. "Stop it! Don't take another step! I-I don't know who you are, but I won't hesitate to hurt you if you don't leave me alone! Don't come any closer!"

"You are being foolish," the blonde man stated coldly. "Halt your insolent behavior."

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Katie shrieked, bursting into terrified tears. "NATHAN! NATHAN, HELP ME!"

"S-she's crying!" Madison scoffed, green eyes widening with a start. "Whoa! Dude, the witch is crying! Look!"

"Okay, it's official: this isn't a hoax," Tiffany muttered, whirling around and bolting out out of sight. "I'll be right back, Kate! Hold on for a bit!"

"Hurry!" the albino cried, hunching her shoulders and cowering down when the man slammed his hands down on either side of her. "EEEK!"

"There is no mistake here," the stranger stated, looking into her terrified eyes. "It is you... Tauriel."

"No! You're wrong! My name is Katie, not Tauriel!" Kate wailed, flailing her arms. "You've got the wrong girl! I don't know you, so leave me alone already!"

"How stubborn," the man sighed, narrowing his silver eyes; when he lifted his hand and clutched her small chin, tilting her head up, the girl trembled. "You are deluded: there is no mistake here. My eyes see things that were, things that are, and things that may be. "

"HUH?!" Kate choked, staring at him with hunched shoulders and wide eyes; she tried to pull away, but his fingers tightened. "L-let go of me! W-what the hell are you doing?!"

"Accept your fate!" the blonde man barked, making her jump. "If you value your life, accept it!"

"F-fine! I-I accept it!" Kate stammered, cowering against the wall with terror in her eyes. "N-now go away already! I did what you wanted, alright?!"

However, she jumped when he let go of her chin and pressed a single finger against her forehead: a searing agony instantly burned through her right shoulder.

"What's going on here?!" Mr. Ross demanded, shouldering his way into the classroom with Tiffany close behind; the moment he took in the scene before him, his eyes widened and he blinked in surprise. "Excuse me, but who are you? Explain to me why you're harassing my student, otherwise I'll be calling the authorities and letting them handle this situation."

"This is none of your concern," the blonde retorted, glancing at the man with no change in his expression. "Leave us be."

Mr. Ross and everyone standing behind him stiffened in total surprise, since nobody had believed the guy would stand against a teacher: several of the smarter students left the entrance and hastily ran down the hall, sprinting at top speed towards the main offices. Nobody wanted to deal with a lunatic, especially if he had some sort of concealed weapon on him. Kate merely stared at her teacher with fearful eyes.

"What did you just say to me?" Mr. Ross demanded, glancing at Kate's terrified expression with furrowed brows. "While she's under the roof of this school, that girl is  _all_  of my concern: she is one of  _my_  students, and  _her_  safety was entrusted to  _me._  Now, can you rationally explain to me how a man your size managed to back a high school girl into a corner and still seem innocent? Speak up, sir! Now!"

"If you care so much about her safety," the blonde man stated in a low voice, "let her come with me: it is not safe here."

"What do you mean it's not safe?" the teacher scoffed, then turned and looked at Kate. "Miss Sanders, what's going on?"

Kate was just about to open her mouth when her eyes went blank.

She had a vision: death... everyone lying dead... and...

"GET DOWN!" the girl screeched, instinctively dropping to all fours and covered her head with both hands. "NOW!"

Some people, such as Erika, Tiffany, and a few frightened students hit the deck out of instinct; others chose to remain upright, her teacher included. Only a split second later, every single window in the classroom exploded in a shower of glass and wood, sending deadly shards flying into the room and eliciting several screams. For several moments, there was nothing but complete silence in the school halls outside of the classroom.

Then… Katherine's high-pitched screech of terror filled the air.

The entire classroom had been completely demolished within the span of a second: students lay on the floor with desks and chairs on top of them, some bleeding from the flying glass, others bruised from the wood that had flown off the wall. Katie's entire body quaked as she took in all of the upturned desks. However, when she twisted around and looked behind her, the girl's face completely drained of color: every single one of the windows had somehow imploded into the classroom. It looked as though a bomb had gone off...

Or rather, as though her vision had come to pass.

"W-what the hell?!" Kate spluttered, looking at the destruction in horror. "What just happened here?! The windows are gone!"

"Oh, my God..." Tiffany whimpered, staring at her unconscious friends with enormous eyes. "Madi?! Alexa?! Brit?!"

"S-Sanders…" Mr. Kenton hissed, clutching the albino's ankle and lifting his head; the girl's breath caught in terror when she realized that his left cheek had been sliced almost completely in half. "You knew... you knew this would happen, didn't you?! You set us up, didn't you?! Was this all your doing?!"

"Huh?! No!" Kate whispered, stiffening in horror when she glanced at all of her injured classmates. "No way! I swear, it wasn't me!"

"Liar!" Tiffany screeched, crawling over and clutching the front of the white-haired girl's blazer. "YOU WITCH! THIS IS YOUR FAULT, ISN'T IT?! ISN'T IT?! YOU CURSED MY FRIENDS! YOU CURSED THEM! YOU STUPID BITCH!"

"No! You're wrong!" Kate cried, clutching Tiffany's wrists with terrified tears in her eyes. "I didn't do it! I swear! I swear! It wasn't me!"

"LIAR!" Tiffany screeched again, grabbing her throat and tightening her fingers with a snarl. "YOU'RE A FREAK! A FREAK, GOD DAMN IT! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

"Tiffany, get off of her!" Erika yelped, lunging forward and smacking her arms off of the smaller girl. "It wasn't her fault! How could she possibly be behind this sort of thing?! It's only because of her that we knew it was going to happen, you moron! This isn't the first time she's saved someone's life like this!"

"It wasn't me," the girl stated in a shaken tone, shaking her head with hysterical pink eyes. "I didn't do it... I swear... it wasn't my fault!"

However, she locked up when the blonde man touched her shoulder, eyes widening even further.

When she woodenly turned her head and stared up at him with shaking limbs, his silver eyes were blank and almost... psychotic-looking.

"Come with me," he stated in a low tone, shadowed eyes widening and making her heart tighten. "Now."

Nope.

Finally reaching her wit's end, Kate jerked her leg free of her teacher's grasp and bolted for the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. The girl's white hair flew behind her like a gleaming cloud as she sprinted out of the room and took off down the hall at top speed; several students watched with frightened expressions as she flew past them with the blonde man chasing after her. The girl let out a shriek when she realized she was being followed and started running as fast as she could, dress shoes clacking against tile.

_Nathan, please,_  Kate silently wailed, panting as she sprinted down every hall she could find.  _Please! Help me!  
_

When the albino girl skidded to a halt at the double stairways that led to the upper and lower floors, she instantly started heading towards the ground.

However, an enormous shadow unexpectedly blotted out the light coming through the windows for a brief moment, and she had another vision.

Kate let out a shriek and dove behind the stairway banister when all of the windows in the hallway behind her exploded with a deafening crash. A terrible wind flew into the school directly afterwards, making the girl shiver violently. Slowly rising to her feet, she stepped into the hall and looked around for the blonde man, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Then the air grew cold and her hair stood on end.

Kate looked up at the ceiling when a thin layer of shadow began to slide across it before turning and looking towards the source. However, her heart flew up her throat when she saw the first shadowy figure walking into sight... followed by eight more. Her knees started shaking and she took a step backwards when they turned towards her. One of the hooded figures drew a familiar black sword and lifted it, uttering the same banshee-like screech she'd heard on the East River Bridge. Only this time it was louder, and much more vivid.

It made her skin crawl and had her heart racing.

"Oh, shit..." Kate fearfully whispered, backing away when they began gliding towards her. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..."

When they screeched again, the girl let out a terrified squeak and flew down the stairs, heading for the library with her feet flying.

She needed to get to Miss McKinley.

However, just as she opened the door and the librarian blinked at her with a smile, the blonde man appeared out of nowhere.

The girl jumped when he gripped her wrist and prevented her from moving inside her sanctuary.

"No! Let me go!" Kate screeched, struggling against his powerful grip. "Ow! Let go of me! Miss McKinley! Miss McKinley, help me! HELP!"

"What on earth?!" the old woman gasped, standing up in an instant. "W-what are you doing to Katherine?! Let go of her, this instant!"

"Not here," the man snapped, making her flinch. "Go to the roof!"

"What do you mean?!" the girl screamed, still struggling to get away from him. "LET GO OF ME!"

However, the rest of her words were cut off by the sound of shattering glass and a high-pitched scream.

Kate instantly whirled around and gasped when she saw Miss McKinley staring at the library windows, which had exploded in a spray of glittering shards.

Kate immediately stumbled backwards, fully realizing for the first time that something seriously wrong was going on.

"W-what in the name of everything good just happened here?!" the elderly woman squalled, running over to the windows with enormous eyes. "W-what?!"

"If you do not wish to cause harm to anyone," the man rapped out, glaring into her eyes, "you must go to the roof!"

"What the hell is going on?!" Kate wailed, tearing past him and sprinting past a few confused-looking students who'd been on their way up the stairs. She ran up two complete flights of steps until she hit the entrance to the rooftop. A fierce wind assaulted her the moment she stepped outside, but once she was out in the open she doubled over to catch her breath: the girl instantly sank down to her knees and heaved for air. "What... the hell… is happening around here?! Why do all the… windows… keep blowing up?!"

"Kate?" a familiar voice choked, making the girl jump in surprise; she whipped around to see her brother sitting on the building that served as the rooftop door's foundation. "What are you doing here? And who the heck are you clinging to?!"

"Nathan, help me!" Kate shrieked, struggling when the man gripped her wrist. "Ow! Let go! Nate, help! He's a psycho! The classroom  _blew up_  after he came in!"

_"_ Wait, _what's_  going on?!" Nathan scoffed, instantly getting to his feet. "What do you mean the classroom blew up?"

"All the windows exploded!" Kate wailed, bursting into hysterical tears. "Nathan, help me! Make this freak let me go!"

The albino boy shook his head and glanced at her in confusion, countenance becoming a bit apprehensive.

"Let go of my sister!" Nathan barked, moving to the edge of the rooftop; the stranger's grip instantly tightened to the point where Kate's wrist popped, causing her to let out a squeal of pain. "Hey! You're hurting her! I swear to God, let my sister go right now!"

That's when a deafening animal screech split the air.

Nathan glanced up only a split second before Kate did, but both twins turned a sickly shade of white when the saw what was resting in the air above them: a dragon the size of a small building was plummeting towards them from the sky. Kate's heart nearly halted when the frigid memory of her nightmares slammed into her gut. Her entire body instantly went limp: she was staring one of her visions clean in the face. Then... an even more impossible sight met her eyes: a giant eagle the size of Toni's house flew overhead and smashed into the dragon.

Right before her knees buckled, a disembodied voice whispered in her ear.

_It is often said that star-crossed lovers are reborn as twins,_  the voice whispered,  _but if one of the lovers survives and the other does not... the fallen one will be reborn again... and again... until history allows them to meet their final fate together. Only then may they live happily ever after._

"Who... are you?" Kate whispered, staring up at the blonde man with terrified amethyst eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I am the Gatekeeper," the blonde stated firmly, giving her an otherworldly expression. "I ferry the souls of the dead to where they belong. I have been looking for you because you do not belong here... you never did. It is Middle Earth that has claim on you."

Kate covered her ears, not wanting to listen, to hear, to live.

She wanted to pretend it was a bad dream.

Then again, in a way, that's exactly what it was: a nightmare. And the shittiest part was the fact that she was completely awake. Even worse than that was the Fox 37 news van sitting in front of the gate: the man Kate had saved was holding a microphone in his hand, mouth open and completely agape. The camerawoman was pointing the lens at the monstrous creatures battling on the rooftop. As far as Kate was currently concerned, things literally couldn't get any worse than they already were.

Sadly, she was wrong.

Things were about to get a whole lot worse, and fast.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Five: The Gate Opens  
**

Katherine was in shock.

Everything in her life seemed to be collapsing again, and this time, the little peace of mind she'd managed to salvage was fading away by the second.

Her eyes were large and blank as she sat there on her knees, watching two enormous creatures that shouldn't have existed battle it out above her.

"I-is that...?" Nathan finally hiccuped, choking on his own words. "Is that a… a  _dragon_ _?!"_

His question was answered when the eagle was knocked towards the ground with a screech of pain, because not even a second later, the dragon descended and started shredding the rooftop with its claws. A fierce wind exploded from its wings, causing the twins to cover their faces. Kate twitched when the blonde man wrapped his arms around her waist and dove out of the way, eliciting a shriek from the albino girl. The sound of glass exploding somewhere below and more screams caught Kate's attention.

 _It's the speed of the wings causing the implosions,_  she realized, shoulders tensing up in horror.  _That thing is moving fast enough to send air shooting through the glass!_

"What is that thing?!" Kate screeched, looking up at the dragon-creature with a horrified expression. "It can't even be real, can it?!"

"T'is a Fell Beast," the blonde man replied, speaking as though it were the simplest question in the world; the albino girl twitched and looked at him with stunned amethyst eyes, wondering how he was acting so calm. "Huan! Come!"

Kate's jaw dropped when the air in front of her rippled in a circular manner: only a split second later, an enormous hole shredded itself into existence and a wolf-like creature stampeded out of it. The girl instantly shook her head and stared at the rip that had opened up in the air right in front of her, but soon the dust obscured her range of vision and the image faded with a ripple. Within seconds, she was unable to tell whether she had been seeing things... but unfortunately, the wolf in front of her was much too real.

"W-what is going on here?!" Kate cried, scrabbling backwards in alarm. "What the hell is going on around here?!"

"W-w-w-wha…?" Nathan squawked, staring at the fighting animals in shock. "What the fuck is happening?! This is totally insane!"

"Kwilanna!" the blonde man barked, lifting his hand. "Come!"

"H-huh?!" Kate whimpered, staring at the ground with large eyes as a huge black hole opened up on the rooftop; the girl gaped as a brilliant light exploded from the portal and shot towards the sky… but when it vanished, a plant-like woman with several features resembling a tree was standing in front of them with her arms folded. "W-what the heck is  _that?!"_

"She is Kwilanna," the blonde man replied, glancing at her with cold silver eyes. "She will help you."

Once again, he was acting as though his simple words explained everything.

"Hey! Leave my sister alone!" Nathan shouted, sliding off the roof and running towards the blonde man. "Get off of her!"

The man didn't respond due to the fact that he was busy pressing something into Kate's hands. The girl looked down at it with stricken eyes, unable to process half of what was really happening. After a few moments of blinking at the object in her palms, her mouth fell open in alarm and her head flew back up to stare at the blonde man's face.

"Take this sword and keep it close to you," he stated softly. "This is the proof that you belong to Middle Earth."

"M-Middle Earth?" Kate squeaked, looking down at the object again in alarm. "What the hell is Middle Earth?!"

"Who  _are_  you?!" Nathan shouted, stomping his foot in anger. "What's going around here?!"

"I am Gwendolyn," the blonde man called, silver eyes flashing to an obscure beetle black for a moment. "You need not know more."

"Bullshit! Explain what's going on here!" Kate cried, shakily holding out the sword. "I-I don't want this, so take it back and tell me what's happening!"

"I've come to take you back to Middle Earth," the man explained, giving her a firm look. "This plane of existence is not where you belong."

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Nathan squawked, bolting forward and gripping his sister's frail arm; with possessive motions, he dragged the girl away from the blonde and stood in front of her with fierce eyes. "Screw all the crazy talk about this Middle Earth place! Those monsters shouldn't even exist! It's not possible, so how the hell did they get here?! And why do you want my sister?!"

"The Fell Beast is a creature born in the fires of Mordor," Gwendolyn explained, looking into the boy's eyes. "It followed me here."

"The fires of what?!" Nate scoffed, furrowing his brows. "What the hell is Mordor?!"

He ignored the question in favor of turning back to the girl, who seemed to be going into shock.

"Slay the Fell Beast with your sword," the blonde finally commanded, looking straight at Kate. "End its existence."

"What?!" the albino girl shrieked in horror, looking at the weapon in her hands. "Oh,  _hell_  no! There is  _no way_  in  _hell!"_

"Hurry!" the blonde man barked, looking up at the giant beast with intense silver eyes. "It's coming back!"

"Why can't  _you_  kill that thing?!" Nathan cried, fearfully dancing from foot to foot. "I mean, you know what it is, right?!"

"I cannot shed the blood of another," Gwendolyn hissed, narrowing his eyes in anger. "Nor can I intervene in events that take place in any world. It is the ultimate Law."

"You're insane! I can't do it!" Kate wailed, throwing the sword on the ground. "I don't want to do this anymore! I can't kill it!"

The man's eyes widened when the weapon hit the ground.

"Kwilanna, take her somewhere safe," he thunderously commanded. "The Nazgul will be here any moment."

Almost immediately, the plant-creature whisked behind Kate and wrapped its arms around the albino girl's middle. Katherine yelped when she was swept off her feet, frantically kicking her legs at the air in an attempt to get back down. Her breath hitched when the creature abruptly crouched down.

"No! Stop!" Kate shrieked, frantically flailing for her brother's hand. "Nathan! Don't let them take me! Nathan, help me! HELP!"

"K-Katie, fight it off!" Nathan shouted, lunging forward and pulling on the creature's bark-like arms. "Come on! You can do it! Don't let it take you!"

"This doesn't concern him," Gwendolyn chided, giving the girl a fierce look. "He does not need to involve himself with you any further."

"I won't go anywhere without my brother!" the girl screeched, squeezing her eyes shut. "He's all I have left! Don't take him away from me!"

For several moments, there was nothing but the sound of wind and otherworldly screeches to fill the air.

"Kwilanna…" the blonde man called, closing his eyes. "Take the boy as well."

"W-whoa! Put me down!" Nathan screamed, eyes bugging out of his head when the plant-like creature tugged him off the ground as well. "No!"

Both twins starting screaming hysterically when the plant-beast jumped into the air and carried them hundreds of feet into the sky.

"Help!" Kate screeched, flailing her legs at the open air before bursting into tears. "Someone, help us! Someone!"

Nathan did nothing but scream at the top of his lungs as the school campus dropped away.

The camera woman below instantly pointed up at them and let out an exclamation, but when the grey-eyed reported saw Kate and Nate flailing in the grasp of the flying monster, his eyes widened and he started shouting something that couldn't be heard. The group of people standing outside the news van instantly packed up their gear in a flurry and hopped into the vehicle. Kate buried her face in the plant-creature's rough chest and tried not to pass out. She felt her hair whipping around as she was carried away from the school, but she was so terrified of the chasm below her that she refused to open her eyes and see what was going on around her.

She didn't even open her eyes when it started raining and the sound of ocean surf met her ears.

She couldn't stop shaking and her face seemed glued to the creature's bark-like torso.

"We have arrived," a feminine voice whispered, reverberating in her ears. "Fear not, for you are safe now."

"Put me down," Kate whined, not moving a muscle. "I'll believe it when my feet are on solid ground!"

After a few moments of silence, she felt her weight being shifted around and her dress shoes abruptly touched a hard surface.

Kate's eyes flew open wide and she instantly sank down to her knees, breathing hard and pupils dilated: she looked as though she had gone into a severe state of shock. After taking a moment to catch her breath, the girl glanced up and saw her brother struggling to breathe. Nathan was lying flat on the ground, clawing at the stone with shaking fingers in an attempt to get a firm hold on it. He honestly looked sick to his stomach, and Kate didn't blame him in the least.

She was having trouble keeping her own breakfast down.

"W-what just happened to us...?" Nathan demanded, looking up at Kate through his soaked white hair. "What the hell just happened here?!"

"Why are you asking me?!" Kate wailed, pushing her sopping white hair out of her eyes. "I have no clue what's going on!"

"K-Kate... I'm asking because of your nightmares," Nathan croaked, staring at her with hostile eyes. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?!"

"No! I didn't think it was real!" the girl protested, shaking her head in shock. "Nathan, this is insane! Things like this aren't supposed to happen!"

"It  _is_  happening, though!" Nathaniel shouted, glaring at his twin in outrage. "Impossible or not, it's really happening! How do you explain that?!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Kate screeched, leaning forward and startling her brother into jerking backwards. "I'm telling you, it's not my fault!"

"Are you all right?" a familiar voice asked, making the silver-haired girl jump with terrified amethyst eyes; both white-haired teens whirled to the side and stared at Gwendolyn, who had somehow appeared on the stone pier without warning. "If so, we must leave now."

As if to emphasize his words, an inhuman screech came from the direction of the school, causing the teenagers to jump in alarm.

Then another screech came from the ocean.

Kate whirled around and looked in the direction of the Statue of Liberty with frightened violet eyes, mouth trembling and shoulders shaking; Nathan stood up and backed away from the edge of the pier, struggling to stand up straight despite his shaking knees. Kate merely stumbled backwards and fell on her butt, covering her mouth with both hands and staring at the giant snake-like monster that was now flying towards them.

A flash of lightning illuminated the Fell Beast from behind, making the twins cringe.

"P-please, help us!" Kate begged, looking up at Gwendolyn with huge eyes. "Make that thing stop attacking us!"

"Take this," the blonde man stated, holding out the sword once again. "If we are to survive, you must kill the Fell Beast."

"I-I can't do it!" the girl squeaked, frantically shaking her head. "I can't kill it!"

"Give it to me!" Nathan snapped, violently shoving his sister aside. "I'll do it!"

"Nathan, no!" the girl protested, looking at her brother in horror. "Are you crazy?!"

"This Sword can only be wielded by her," Gwendolyn firmly explained. "It will not draw for another soul."

"Why?!" Nathan snarled, face twisting up in anger. "She doesn't know how to fight! How could she possibly kill that thing?!"

"My brother is right!" Kate exclaimed, flailing her arms. "I have no idea how to use a sword!"

"Then I will lend you the soul of a warrior, one who will protect you," the blonde man stated simply, making both teens freeze. "Tauriel! Come!"

Kate glanced down at the ground when something shot out of it, but the girl let out a shriek when she was engulfed by a smokey substance: her arms immediately snapped down to her sides, pinned by something unseen, and she felt as though she were losing her breath. Nathan jumped away from her when she struggled and screamed again, fighting to move her arms and get away from the creature that had latched itself onto her body.

He jumped when she arched her back and wailed.

Behind her, a smokey woman with fiery red hair slowly began to appear: the woman had her arms wrapped around the albino girl's torso in an almost loving embrace, and her long hair was billowing around in a weightless manner. However, the frightening part was that Nathan recognized the apparition from somewhere.

"Emily...?" Nathan whispered, pupils slowly dilating in shock.

"No! No, no, no! Stop it! Stop!" Kate wailed, fighting to move her arms. "NO! Take it off! Take it off! It's hurting me!"

"K-Kate!" Nathan squawked, staring at the smokey woman when she opened her translucent blue eyes and slid into the smaller girl's body. "Kate! Look!"

"Nathan, help me!" the girl squealed; however, her eyes snapped open when the tendrils disappeared. "H-huh? It's gone…?"

"What the hell...?" Nate whispered, staring at the fading redhead with enormous pink eyes. "Who... no,  _what_  was that...?"

"I-I don't know! Where did it go?!" his sister shakily demanded, turning around and staring at Gwendolyn with horrified eyes. "Please, take it off! Take that thing off me right now! I want it gone! Make it go away! Please, just take it off!"

 _The Nazgul are coming..._  a feminine voice suddenly whispered, making the girl's pink eyes widen in alarm.  _Danger is near._

"EEEEEK!" Kate squealed, covering her ears with both hands. "No! This is  _not_  happening! I'm hearing a voice in my head!"

"Here," the man murmured, holding out the sword. "Take this."

"No! I won't do it!" Kate sobbed, shaking her head in protest; however, the girl's eyes widened when her arm started moving on its own, taking the sword against her will and drawing it from its sheath. Her face drained of color and tears spilled down her cheeks when she held the weapon out in front of her with a practiced stance. "H-huh?! W-w-what's going on?! My body is… my body is moving on its own! Nathan! Nathan, help! Make it stop! I can't stop! Please, somebody, help me! My body won't... it won't... no! No more!"

"It's coming!" Nathan yelped, pointing at the winged monster. "What do we do?!"

"Whatever you do, don't close your eyes," Gwendolyn whispered, icy breath tickling her ear. "I leave the rest to you."

"No! No, wait!" Kate shrieked, looking at him with a terrified expression before staring straight ahead once again; the albino girl's pink eyes widened in horror when a gale of ferocious wind blasted her long hair out of her face, for the Fell Beast was soaring at her at an impossible speed. She could see the water behind it flying towards the sky as it soared towards her, and the girl felt her heart thudding madly as her arms drew back as if to swing at it. "No way... this can't be happening... no! NO! NOOO!"

Kate's heart stopped when she felt her arms swinging the blade.

 _This isn't real,_  she whispered silently, pink eyes blank and full of tears.  _It's not real... it's not real... it's not real... please, God...  
_

Her mind went numb when she heard the sound of metal rending flesh.

The sound of a monster's screech cutting off and going silent forever.

Then nothing but red...

Red rivers that now stained the white pier with an ended life...

Kate stared at the dead monster with a stricken expression, every muscle in her body shaking violently and eyes wide with the shock of what she'd just done: her mouth was open wide and her breathing was irregular, but the only thing she could see was the red that had stained the blade and her entire left sleeve. Crimson rivers trailed off the edge of the pier and into the ocean as the rain washed them away, but no amount of rain would ever take away the memory of what she'd just done.

She felt her entire body go numb in an instant.

"Red..." she whispered, staring at the concrete with shaking muscles. "Red... rivers..."

This had already happened once before... so, why...?

Why again...?

Again, she was seeing these rivers... the rivers that stained the earth with a life that would no longer continue moving forward.

The rivers that would surely lead to a funeral... a funeral like the one that had been given to her sister.

Emily's funeral... the older sister that had once been Katherine's closest friend.

Inside the red liquid that was flowing across the concrete towards the ocean, she could see everything... the sidewalk with the colorful shops, the adults who'd stopped to ask how they were doing... and herself, as a little girl, walking beside a beautiful teenage girl with shoulder-length red hair. In the reflection of the blood trailing across the ground, she could see a world that had been lost to her for a long time.

A world she had destroyed with her own mind.

Emily had been walking beside her... but unlike Katherine, she had been so pretty.

Beautiful face, pale skin, big blue eyes… auburn hair that gleamed like fire... a dimple in her left cheek and a little dent in her chin. A cheerful girl who joked around with the people she passed on the streets. Kate had been terrified that day since she'd had nightmares about the same red rivers running across black stone. She had told Emily not to go... over and over again... had begged not to go out to the dentist, to reschedule. She had stalled the event all the way up to the very last second, but it wasn't any surprise that Emily hadn't listened... she'd forced the girl to go regardless of her fright.

That's how they'd gotten to the dentist to get her tooth filled.

After all, they lived in a metro area only a few miles away from the main part of New York City... their side of town had almost no violence, little crime, and very safe neighborhoods. Katherine's eyes filled with tears when she saw that day being replayed in the blood running across the concrete. They had been walking home... her hand had bumped Emily's because the two of them were that close together. Then... Emily had patted Katie's cheek, walked over to a patch of grass, picked a little pink flower, and handed it to her younger sister with a grin.

" _You were a brave girl today,_ " Emily sighed, grinning when a flush covered Katie's face. " _Nothing bad happened, see? There were no red rivers: we're safe._ "

For a moment, she'd almost believed her sister... and so, Katie had attempted to take the flower...

And she'd tripped over the uneven concrete.

Emily had grabbed her arm in an attempt to steady her just as the sound of screeching tires filled the air. Before the little girl knew what was happening, the sports cars careened around the corner: she'd heard the gunfire... seen the jerk that went through Emily's entire body. Felt the hot blood start spray all over her her face. Her side. Her arm. Her hand.

The hand that Emily's had just been bumping against.

When the older girl's body had tilted past her, Kate hadn't really understood what was going on. She'd touched her crimson-coated cheeks in shock and turned her head just as her sister landed on her stomach. Emily was lying there on the ground with a huge hole in her temple: a growing puddle of blood was already pooling around her face. Kate blinked at her body, not understanding the red that had flown everywhere… not understanding why her big sister was no longer moving, or even why her large blue eyes had become still.

For a long moment, she simply hadn't understood.

However, when it had finally hit her, the girl's stomach had tightened: she'd suddenly felt as though a large fist had clutched her heart.

As though someone were squeezing it out of anger.

Eyes widening and mouth opening as the unbearable pressure filled her, the little girl had let out a screech that had traveled up and down the streets.

Her knees had given out when she'd tried to move forward, so she'd settled for crawling over to her sister, frantically pawing at the older girl's shirt.

" _Emily!_ " Katie had shrieked, shaking her body. " _Please, wake up! Open your eyes! You promised! You promised you wouldn't ever leave me alone! You said we were safe! You promised there would be no red rivers!_ "

The older girl's eyes weren't moving: her face had gone completely slack.

She hadn't even closed her eyes.

" _Emily!_ " Katie had wailed, smacking the older girl's arms. " _EMILY! EMILY! EMILY!_ "

However, there had been no response... no amount of chafing, punching, or smacking had any affect... and when reality had come crashing down that her sister might have been gone forever, the horrible feeling that had taken hold of her heart turned so black that it nearly crushed her. For the first time in her life, Kate hadn't been able to breathe... as though she'd been falling beneath an ocean of shadows... her tears had started flowing, but her expression had gone blank.

Had stayed blank.

" _HELP MY SISTER!_ " the little girl wailed, voice seeming to echo into the hauntingly red world. " _Somebody, please!_ "

Nobody had come... nobody had been brave enough to try.

She'd been left sitting there, all alone, beside her sister's body for almost six hours before the police arrived.

"This is not the only enemy pursuing us," Gwendolyn stated evenly, jerking her blank eyes up. "You must show your trust and come along with me."

"No..." Kate whispered, not even registering her body's actions; the girl dropped the sword and stumbled away from the monster's corpse, muscles shaking violently and eyes full of hysteria. Without another word, she turned around and stumbled over to her gaping brother, ignoring how he flinched away in favor of collapsing into his arms. Kate buried her face in Nathan soaked blazer, shuddering violently and trying to erase the memories of the creature's death from her mind; she couldn't do it, and that one simple face caused her to burst into a fit of hysterical tears. "It wasn't my fault, Nathan… not my fault… the red rivers… it wasn't me… I didn't want... just... no more..."

"Kate..." Nathan choked, staring at her in horror. "Kate, calm down!"

"Tauriel, protect her only when needed," Gwendolyn commanded, stepping forward and gripping Kate's arm. "For now, she has seen enough."

The girl flinched when she was jerked out of her brother's grasp and lifted into Gwendolyn's arms..

"NOOO!" Kate screeched, flailing around and hitting him in the face. "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! LET GOOOOOO!"

"Put her down!" a distant voice shouted, making the blonde man turn; a familiar van had been parked near the edge of the pier. The man that Katherine had saved was standing on the edge of it with fearful but determined eyes, and not far behind him was the camerawoman. "You're being broadcasted on national television, sir: put the girl down and back away from her until the authorities get here."

"This is none of your concern," the man stated, ignoring how the girl screeched again and started kicking at the air. "She does not belong here."

"Bastard..." Nathan hissed, getting to his feet and glaring at the blonde with tense shoulders. "Quit talking about this psychotic shit and let go of my sister."

When Gwendolyn turned to look at him, the boy's lips were drawn back and his eyes were flinty.

"Calm yourself," the gatekeeper stated firmly. "Was it not your wish? For her to disappear?"

"NO!" Nathan barked, shoulders tensing when Kate's head flew to look at him with startled eyes. "GET OFF MY SISTER!"

Then, before another word could be spoken, he charged forward with his fist drawn back. However, before he could land the blow, Nathan was lifted off the ground by the plant-like creatures and dragged into the air. He instantly let out a scream, since he was carried out over the Atlantic ocean despite his futile attempts at getting away.

"HELP ME!" Kate wailed, thrusting her hand out in the direction of the grey-eyed man; he was standing frozen, like the rest of the news crew with stunned eyes. "HELP ME! PLEASE!"

"They cannot and will not do anything to save you," Gwendolyn stated firmly, making the girl twitch and look at his face. "You do not belong here with them."

So saying, the man's silver eyes began glowing with a brilliant golden light, which made the girl's jaw drop open.

With an abrupt impact to the air, a set of gorgeous feathered wings exploded from his back and shredded the back of his shirt. Kate stared at the man's wings with a stunned expression, soaked white hair billowing around in the ensuing gale as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her. None of this seemed like it could be possible… and yet, the proof was right in front of her: she was being held in the arms of a winged man who had forced her to slaughter a monster that shouldn't have even existed.

"What  _are_  you?" Kate whispered in horror, staring into his glowing eyes with a terrified expression. "You aren't human!"

"No, I am not," Gwendolyn replied in a thunderous voice, gripping the sword and leaping high into the air. "I am an Ainur."

Kate shrieked when he flapped his wings, throwing her skinny arms around his neck to keep from falling back to the ground.

She thrust her hand out to the group of reporters with enormous eyes, her final gesture of pleading for help.

When the winged man flew over to where the strange creature was hovering with her brother, something on Gwendolyn's forehead began to shine like a star and the a huge ripple exploded across the ocean's surface. The girl watched with horrified eyes as something deep under the water began to glow and swirl around. Kate began shivering when the sea began to sink downward in a circular manner, and she winced when a fierce wind slammed into her: after a few moments of staring at the strange development below her, the albino realized with a horrified jolt that a glowing hole had opened up beneath the ocean's surface, which was causing the water to drain into the epicenter.

Kate let out a shriek when Gwendolyn dove towards the whirlpool; her brother joined in when the creatures holding him dropped as well; both teenagers continued screaming as they went flying into the epicenter of the storm. Kate had an abrupt mental flash of Ariel falling into the sea as Ursula towered above her before the light engulfed her, but this was much more real. She was no mermaid… and this was no dream… which meant that she was in very real trouble.

However, the girl's stomach flipped and she let out a choking gasp as her sense of up and down shifted in a dizzying manner, and all of a sudden she was being carried towards the sky: the girl closed her eyes and tried not to vomit as she was carried out of the vortex, but once her head stopped spinning she opened them again and glanced down at the ocean.

Her jaw instantly dropped and she stiffened in Gwendolyn's arms.

"Kate!" Nathan shouted, voice coming from far away. "Kate, help me!"

"Where am I?!" the albino girl shrieked, flailing around in Gwendolyn's arms when the man flapped over to the winged eagle she'd seen earlier; without speaking a word, he set the girl down on top of the animal's back and fell away from it, long blonde hair vanishing as he flew away. "No, stop! Where are you going?! Don't you dare just leave me here! Nathan! Nathan, where are you?! Nathan, help me!"

Not long after, however, the blonde man returned with her flailing brother and set him down on top of the eagle.

Then he vanished again, dissolving in a spray of golden light.

"W-w-w-w-what the f-f-f-fuck is g-g-g-g-going on?" the boy squeaked, muscles locking up as he looked around. "T-t-t-t-this isn't n-n-n-n-normal!"

"Where are we?" Kate whispered, staring down at the ocean with a pale face. "That isn't the New York harbor... where the hell are we?!"

Unfortunately, she got no answer from below or above.

There was nothing but the sound of a thundering ocean to answer her questions.


End file.
